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„,  ,  BX  99A7  .B35  1856 
^g^  Bartlett,  Samuel  Colcord, 
'   1817-1898. 
Lectures  on  modern 
universalism 


LECTURES 


ON 


MODERN  UNIVERSALIS!: 


AN  EXPOSURE  OP  THE  SYSTEM,  FROM  RECENT  PUBLICATIONS 
OF   ITS   STANDARD   AUTHORS. 


BY   SAMUEL   C.  BARTLETT,  M.  A., 

MANCHESTEB,     N.     H, 


MANCHESTER,  N.  H. : 

FROM  THE  PRESS  OF  FISK  &  GAGE. 

1856. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1856,  by 

SAMUEL  C.  BARTLETT, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  New  Hampshire. 


CONTENTS. 


Fage> 

Introductory  Note. 

LECTURE  FIRST. 
Nature  and  Characteristics  of  Universalism 5 

LECTURE  SECOND. 
More  Obvious  Marks  of  Falsehood 39 

LECTURE  THIRD. 
The  Universalist  Argument :  —  The  Scriptures  Evaded.         .         .     64 

LECTURE   FOURTH. 
The  Universalist  Argument :  —  The  Scriptures  Perverted.        .       .     93 

LECTURE  FIFTH. 
The  Universalist  Argument :  —  The  Scriptures  Oven-uled.       .       .135 

LECTURE   SIXTH. 
Moral  Tendencies  of  Universalism 162 

LECTURE  SEVENTH. 
Restorationist  Viewa  among  Universalists 197 


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INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 


These  lectures  discuss  the  Universalism  of  the  present  time. 

The  readSi'  will  observe  three  things  :  First,  that  the  statements 
of  doctrine  are  not  made  at  second  hand,  but  are  taken  directly 
from  Univerpalist  authors  themselves,  examined  by  the  writer  in 
person.  Second,  that  the  authors  quoted  are  among  the  most 
noted  of  the  denomination,  men  who  are  identified  with  its  recent 
history  and  present  condition,  whose  writings  have  had  the  widest 
circulation,  and  who  now  direct  the  theological  literature  of  the 
order.  Third,  that  the  volumes  quoted  are  of  the  most  recent 
date,  some  of  them  not  two  years  old,  nearly  all  of  them  less  than 
ten,  and  published  during  the  life-time  of  their  authors. 

These  lectures  were  delivered  in  the  regular  series  of  discourses  to 
the  writer's  own  congregation.  Members  of  other  congregations 
requested  a  repetition  of  them  at  a  different  hour,  but  other  engage- 
ments prevented  a  compliance.  A  desire  has  been  expressed,  from 
various  quarters,  that  they  might  be  printed. 

They  are  accordingly  given  to  the  press,  in  the  belief  that  the 
facts  they  embody  may  helj)  expose  a  system  that  is  as  full  of  gviile 
as  it  is  of  error.  Christians  in  general  have  no  correct  knowledge 
of  modern  Universalism.  Their  notions  are  of  a  Restorationism, 
recognizing  most  of  the  leading  features  of  the  gospel,  but  deny- 
ing the  eternity  of  future  punishment.  They  have  but  little  idea 
of  the  system  which  rejects  nearly  all  the  doctrines  of  revelation 
in  the  mass,  and  denies  even  what  they  regard  as  the  foundation 
of  common  morality.  They  have  but  little  conception  of  the  arti- 
fices by  which  it  is  sustained,  or  the  moral  degradation  of  code 
which  those  artifices  conceal.      Some  treatise  has  been  needed. 


U  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE. 

which  should  briefly  place  those  facts  in  their  present  aspect  before 
the  christian  public.  This  is  the  principal  design  of  these  lec- 
tures. The  author's  own  preferences  would  have  led  to  a  very 
considerable  extension  of  the  argument ;  but  the  thought  that  in- 
crease of  size  might  defeat  the  circulation  and  influence  of  the 
volume,  prevented.  The  chief  thing  required,  after  all,  is  to  drag 
this  system  to  the  day-light,  and  strip  ofi"  its  disguises.  To  such  a 
system,  exposure  is  condemnation.  When  fairly  comprehended, 
there  is  no  fear  but  that  it  will  be  duly  estimated  by  Christian 
hearts. 

Another  consideration,  not  without  its  influence  on  the  author's 
mind,  was,  the  possibility  of  reaching  some  of  the  many  individu- 
als who  receive  Universalism  on  trust .  Many  respectable  persons  in 
our  larger  places,  especially  many  who  are  young  and  fond  of  pleas- 
ure, are  led  by  their  inclinations  to  listen  to  the  bold  and  defiant 
assertion  of  a  flattering  doctrine,  while  they  never  have  made  an 
hour's  candid  examination  of  the  subject,  and  have  not  the  remot- 
est conception  of  the  internal  rottenness  of  the  Universalist 
scheme  and  its  advocacy.  The  writer  has  the  satisfaction  of  hear- 
ing that  some  such  individuals  were  benefitted  by  these  lectures 
when  delivered,  and  he  hopes  that  others  may  derive  a  similar 
benefit  from  their  perusal.  He  has  not  deemed  it  necessary,  for 
their  sakcs,  to  soften  the  severity  of  his  strictures  on  the  system 
as  such  ;  with  the  facts  before  them,  honest  men  are  welcome  to 
pronounce  on  the  propriety  of  the  strictures.  For  those,  who, 
in  the  full  knowledge  of  the  system,  with  all  its  windings,  sophis- 
tries, palpable  inconsistences,  dishonest  devices  and  concealments, 
and  its  moral  influences,  yet  deliberately  retain  it,  —  there  is  little 
hope  in  this  or  any  other  argument. 

One  entirely  subordinate  consideration  in  printing  those  lectures, 
■was  the  willingness  that  those  who  have  learned  of  their  contents 
only  through  the  representation  of  opponents,  might  read  for  them- 
selves, and  see  what  is  the  honesty  of  some  of  the  jmblic  advo- 
cates of  Universalism. 

Modern  Universalism  is  ashamed  of  itself.  During  the  delivery 
of  these  lectures,  the  gross  blunder  and  folly  was  first  committed, 
of  aflSrming  that  the  Universalism  here  delineated,  was  that  of 
some  forty  years  ago.     Subsequently  the  attempt  was  made,  as 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  iii 

the  writer  is  informed,  to  invalidate  the  testimony  to  facts  given 
in  1848,  by  the  present  editor  of  the  "  Gospel  Banner,"  (the  only 
Universalist  paper  in  Maine,)  and  by  seven  other  persons,  four  of 
whom  are  recognized  in  the  Universalist  Companion  for  1856,  as 
regular  Universalist  preachers  in  Massachusetts, — with  the  sweep- 
ing assertion  that  it  was  the  testimony  of  persons  disfellowshipped 
by  the  denomination.     Similar  devices  were  adopted  throughout. 

One  is  often  reminded  of  the  brief  interview  between  Lemuel 
Haynes  and  the  Universalist  champion  brought  to  argue  with  him. 
When  the  introduction  had  been  made  and  the  errand  stated, — 
"  Glad  to  see  you,"  said  Mr.  Haynes,  taking  him  by  the  hand  ; 
"  well,  you  are  the  man,  then,  who  preaches  that  men  may  swear, 
and  lie,  and  get  drunk,  and  commit  adultery  and  all  other  abomi- 
nations, and  yet  go  to  heaven  after  all,  are  you?"  "  No,  no," 
said  the  Universalist,  "I  do  n't  preach  any  such  thing."  "  Well," 
said  Mr.  Haynes,  '■'■you  believe  so,  don't  you?"  The  zeal  for 
controversy,  for  once,  suddenly  cooled  oflF  at  the  question  ;  and 
after  a  few  remarks  about  the  weather  and  the  pleasant  situation 
of  the  village,  the  Universalist  inquired  of  his  attendant,  if  it 
was  not  about  "  time  to  be  going."  He  felt  the  awkwardness  of 
holding  a  doctrine  which,  in  its  bald  form,  he  was  ashamed  to  avow. 
Thus  the  most  hopeful  feature  of  the  present  Universalism  is,  that 
it  is  ashamed  of  itself,  shrinks  from  the  naked  statements  of  its 
own  doctrines,  and  the  truthful  exhibition  of  its  own  doings,  and 
sometimes  attempts,  before  a  christian  community,  to  repudiate 
the  grand  characteristic  of  the  denomination  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  the  doctrine  of  all  its  late  standard  treatises,  and  of  its 
leading  periodicals.  With  what  success,  the  reader  of  these  lec- 
tures will  judge. 

The  Universalist  books  principally  used  for  the  statement  of 
the  system  are  the  following  :  "  The  Plain  Guide  to  Universal- 
ism," stereotype  edition,  by  Rev.  Thomas  Whittemore,  now  and 
for  many  years  editor  of  the  Trumpet, — a  work  which  has  circu- 
lated more  widely,  perhaps,  than  any  other  issued  by  the  denomi- 
nation ;  "  A  Voice  to  Universalists,"  published  in  1849,  by  Rev. 
Hosea  Ballou,  the  patriarch  of  Modern  Universalism  ;  "  Lecture 
Sermons,"  third  edition,  1854,  by  the  same  author;  "  One  dozeq 
Tracts  for  the  People,"  (Boston,)  1856,  by  Rev.  A.  C.  Thomas  and 


IV  INTEODUCTOET  NOTE. 

Rev.  T.  B.  Thayer,  of  Lowell ;  "A  Compend  of  Divinity,"  sev- 
enth edition,  1854,  by  Rev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  editor  of  the  Christian 
Freeman  and  Family  Visitor  ;  "  Endless  Punishment,"  published 
in  1847,  and  the  "  Exposition  and  Defence  of  Universalism,"  1840, 
by  Rev.  I.  D.  Williamson,  D.D.,  now  preacher  at  Cincinnati  and 
editor  of  the  Gospel  Herald  ;  and  "  Universalist  Belief,"  second 
edition,  1846,  by  Rev.  Asher  Moore,  now  of  New  York.  Other 
occasional  references  wUl  be  sufficiently  indicated  in  their  place. 

These  authors  certainly  are  accredited  organs  of  the  system. 
They  present  it  in  its  most  modern  and  its  most  plausible  form, — 
its  aspect  for  the  public.  For  the  reader  will  learn  before  he  com- 
pletes these  lectures,  that  there  is  also  a  Universalism  not  for  the 
public. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  writer  has  freely  availed  himself  of  the 
aid  of  such  arguments  against  this  heresy,  as  have  fallen  in  his 
way.  He  would  especially  acknowledge  his  indebtedness  to  the 
recent  work  of  Rev.  N.  D.  George,  of  the  Methodist  denomina- 
tion, "  Universalism  not  of  the  Bible."  During  the  delivery  of 
these  lectures,  he  met  with  the  volume  and  derived  from  it  impor- 
tant information  and  valuable  suggestions,  which  are  cheerfully 
acknowledged,  as  well  as  personal  courtesies  from  its  author. 

A  constant  difficulty  which  the  writer  has  felt,  has  been  to  res- 
trict the  discussion  within  the  limits  of  his  design.  It  is  hoped 
that  any  who  might  desire  greater  fulness  on  particular  points, 
will  remember  the  object  in  view.  In  wading  through  the  dreary 
mass  of  sophistry  over  which  he  has  passed,  it  has  been  difficult 
always  to  repress  his  disgust,  and  he  has  not  always  succeeded. 

The  lectures  are  printed  almost  precisely  as  they  were  delivered, 
with  only  a  simple  revision  of  the  style,  and  the  insertion  of  por- 
tions omitted  for  want  of  time.  They  must  be  given  to  the  press 
so,  or  not  at  all.  They  are  published,  not  for  literary  purposes, 
but  to  do  good.  May  the  blessing  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ac- 
company them. 

Manchester,  N.  H.,  August,  1856.  • 


LECTURES  ON  MODERN  UNIVERSALISM. 


LECTURE  FIRST. 

THE  KATUEE  AND  CHAKACTEKISTICS  OF  THE  SYSTEM. 

2  Corinthians,  XI :  13,  14,  15.  For  such  are  false  apostles,  deceitful 
workers,  transforming  themselves  into  the  apostles  of  Christ.  And 
no  marvel :  for  Satan  himself  is  transformed  into  an  angel  of  light. 
Therefore  it  is  no  great  thing  if  his  ministers  also  be  transformed  as 
the  ministers  of  righteousness. 

Such  is  the  assertion  distinctly  made  by  Christ's 
apostle,  concerning  certain  teachers  then  living  and 
teaching  among  the  Corinthian  Christians,  and  claim- 
ing to  be  teachers  and  even  apostles  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Of  course  they  were  very  indignant  at  the 
charge.  It  does  not  appear,  however,  that  any  disas- 
ter to  Christ's  cause  resulted  from  what  timid  men 
must  have  thought  a  very  imprudent  speech  of  the 
apostle.  Doubtless  that  cause  was  advanced,  when  the 
issue  was  distinctly  made  and  Satan's  doctrine  bore  its 
proper  name. 

We  learn  from  this  statement  of  Paul,  that  it  is  no 
unheard-of  thing  for  systems  of  religion  to  claim  the 
name  of  Christianity — Christianity  of  the  highest  or- 


6  LECTURES   ON   UNIYERSALISM. 

der — while  they  are  but  doctrines  of  devils ;  and  that 
men  may  claim,  and  some  have  claimed  to  be  apostles 
of  Christ  and  ministers  of  righteousness,  when  in  fact 
they  are  false  apostles  and  ministers  of  Satan.  It  also 
appears  to  be  an  apostolic  practice  to  refute  prevailing 
errors  that  stand  opposed  to  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  gospel.  Whole  epistles,  and  large  portions  of  all 
the  epistles,  are  devoted  to  the  overthrow  of  heresies. 

Various  indications  have  led  me  to  think  it  high 
time  that  evangelical  Christians  in  this  community 
should  have  a  better  understanding  of  the  system  that 
is  called  Universalism.  I  propose  therefore  to  discuss 
the  subject  in  several  discourses. 

The  present  discourse  will  consider  the  Nature  and 
Characteristics  of  Modern  Universalism. 

I.  The  nature  op  the  system.  I  speak  of  the  sys- 
tem, not  of  men.  There  may  be  many  connected  with 
it  who  do  not  fully  imbibe  the  system,  nor  bring  forth 
its  legitimate  fruits.  There  are  many  highly  moral 
and  reputable  men  who  profess  to  receive  it.  They 
are  requested  to  remember  the  admission.  There  are 
a  few  preachers,  prominent  men,  ranked  under  its  ban- 
ners, who  chiefly  moralize  gravely  or  showily  upon  the 
varied  aspects  of  human  life  and  character,  while  they 
remain  singularly  silent  on  the  fundamental  tenet  of 
the  system,  and  singvilarly  abstemious  from  the  gene- 
ral strain  of  its  preaching.  There  have  been  a  very 
few  individuals  in  other  denominations,  who,  like  John 
Foster,  have  held  all  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
orthodoxy  as  the  broad  platform  of  their  belief,  and  yet 
have  had  speculative  questionings  on  the  eternity  of 
future  punishment,  questionings  which  they  have  rath- 


NATUEE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  7 

er  wished  than  been  able  to  confirm,  and  which  they 
have  hekl  as  mere  incidental  things ;  between  whom 
and  the  men  that  are  forever  rolling  over  the  doctrine 
of  universal  salvation  as  the  whole  gospel  of  Christ, 
the  difference  is  so  immense  that  they  cannot  be  includ- 
ed in  the  same  description, — notwithstanding  the  con- 
stant efforts  of  Universalism  to  gain  the  respectabihty 
of  their  names. 

I  speak  of  the  system  that  is  embodied  in  the  doc- 
trinal writings  of  the  modern  Universalist  denomina- 
tion, and  heard  weekly  from  the  vast  majority  of  its 
pulpits.  The  statement  shall  be  made  from  their  own 
ablest  writers,  examined  by  myself  in  their  own  works ; 
such  men  as  Hosea  Ballou,  A.  C.  Thomas,  T.  B.  Thay- 
er, Thomas  Whittemore,  Sylvanus  Cobb,  I.  D.  Wil- 
liamson. It  is  the  system  which  is  spread  before  the 
denomination  by  the  editors  of  "  The  Trumpet,"  "  The 
Universalist  Quarterly  Review,"  "  The  Christian  Free- 
man," and  "  The  Gospel  Herald." 

It  is  not  the  Universalism  even  of  one-half  a  century 
ago,  that  I  am  to  discuss  ;  but  Modern  Universalism, 
that  of  the  last  few  years,  of  the  present  time.* 

Now  most  Christians,  I  think,  suppose  that  system  to 
be  the  same  that  it  was  fifty  years  ago  ;  and  its  advo- 
cates are  not  always  anxious  to  dispel  the  illusion.  But 
an  illusion  it  is,  Hosea  Ballou  himself  being  witness. 
"As  this  doctrine  was  first  taught  in  this  country," 
says  he,t  "  its  general  aspect  indicated  that  it  had  what 
we  may  call  a  Calvinistic  base.     It  does  not  appear  that 


*For  the  date  of  the  authorities  cited,  see  Introductoiy  Note. 
tVoice  to  Un.  pp.  28,  29. 


8  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

our  earliest  Uiiiversalists  doubted  that  man  by  sin  had 
incurred  the  just  penalty  of  endless  punishment,  but 
fully  relied  on  the  efficacy  of  the  atonement  for  a 
deliverance  of  all  men  from  such  a  condition.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  also  held  as  an  essential 
part  of  the  general  system  of  doctrine."  These  and 
other  connected  doctrines,  he  calls  "  exploded  su- 
perstitions," and  informs  us  *  of  the  "  sharp  conflict" 
which  formerly  took  place  between  the  older  preachers 
who  retained  them  and  the  younger  brethren  who 
repudiated  them,  and  which  at  one  time  threatened 
"  lamentable  consequences,"  but  ended  in  the  final 
rejection  of  the  doctrines.  The  earlier  Universalists 
were  Restorationists,  holding  to  a  limited  future  retri- 
bution ;  "  the  doctrine  of  a  future  retribution,"  says 
Ballou,f  "was  not  denied  by  any  of  the  early  defend- 
ers of  final  restoration."  But  the  denomination  long 
since  repudiated  the  doctrine  from  its  public  teachings, 
and  with  it,  the  last  remnants  of  orthodoxy  that  clung 
to  it.  The  entire  theology  of  the  denomination  is  now 
moulded  by  its  one  absorbing  principle  ;  and  that  prin- 
ciple, 

The  grand  characteristic  doctrine  of  Modern  Uni- 
versalism,  is,  that  all  men  alike,  when  they  die,  (or  when 
they  come  to  consciousness  after  death,')  enter  on  eter- 
nal blessedness. 

The  great  apostle  of  Modern  Universa,lism,  Hosea 
Ballou,  in  1849  informs  us  that  "  for  nearly  forty  years," 
he  had  not  believed  in  any  future  punishment.  And 
he  gives  the  following  piece  of  testimony,  which,  as 

*=Id.,  p.  36.     tib. 


NATUEE  AND  CHAEACTEEISTICS.  9 

coming  from  a  man  who  had  then  been  sixty  years  in 
the  Universahst  ministry,  and  was  tlioroiighly  conver- 
sant with  the  affairs  of  the  denomination,  is  of  the 
very  highest  authority :  "  though  there  are  some  now 
who  heheve  in  what  is  called  future  retribution,  we 
knoio  of  none  who  pretend  to  prove  it  by  divine  revela- 
tion, or  dwell  on  it  in  their  preaching.  We  know  of  no 
passages  of  scripture,  which  teach  the  doctrine  of  a 
future  state,  which  imply  the  existence  of  either  sin  or 
punishment  in  that  state.  Could  we  find  any  such 
testimony,  we  should  then  need  scripture  proof  that 
such  sin  and  punishment  will  have  an  end,  in  order  to 
be  consistent  Universalists."  Such  is  the  weighty  tes- 
timony of  the  patriarch  of  the  system,  near  the  close 
of  his  course.* 

In  perfect  harmony  with  this  testimony  are  the  pub- 
lished opinions  of  their  leading  writers. 

Whittemorc,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  identified 
with  "  The  Trumpet,"  and  with  Universalism  in  New 
England,  writes  thus  :  "  Now  to  say  that  man  shall  sin 
on  the  earth,  and  suffer  the  recompense  in  some  other 
state  of  being,  is  alike  reasonable  with  saying  that  a 
man  who  sows  a  field  of  grain  in  Massachusetts,  shall 
reap  the  harvest  in  some  other  state  ;"f  and,  "  no 
threatening  or  law  extends  sin  or  its  consequences  be- 
yond the  resurrection. "J 

Rev.  I.  D.  Williamson,  D.D.,  now  editor  of  the 
"  Gospel  Herald,"  declares  as  the  belief  of  the  denomi- 
nation, that  "all  the  evil  passions  that  distract  and 


*In  the  year  1849,  "  Voice  to  Un./' p.  37.    f  Plain  Guide,  p.  265. 
JId.,  p.  34. 


10  LECTUEES  ON  UNIYERSALISM. 

torment  men  on  earth,  will  be  left  in  the  earth  where  they 
originated,"  and  "the  future  life  shall  be  to  all  a  cease- 
less blessing."* 

Rev.  Hosea  Ballon  informs  us  that  "  the  apostle 
[Paul]  did  not  believe  in  a  state  of  sin  and  misery 
after  the  resurrection;"!  that  "we  are  certified  that 
all  that  die  live  unto  God  in  the  resurrection,  and  are 
children  of  God,  equal  to  angels,  and  can  die  no 
more."^:  He  also  asserts,  "It  is  plain  from  the  scrip- 
tures that  all  sin,  all  wickedness,  and  all  evil  doings 
are  the  works  of  the  flesh ;  and  there  appears  no  more 
reason  for  supposing  that  the  effects  of  these  works  are 
to  extend  into  the  immortal  state,  than  for  supposing 
that  the  effects  of  wholesome  or  unwholesome  food  are 
to  extend  to  that  state. "§ 

Eev.  Sylvanus  Cobb,  editor  of  the  "  Christian  Free- 
man," asserts  that  "the  resurrection  state  is,  without 
any  limitation  or  reserve,  as  the  state  of  the  angels,  of 
God  in  heaven;"  there  is  "no  room  for  the  notion 
that  there  will  be  an  immortal  state,  in  which  men 
will  continue  in  sin  and  shame."  He  says,  "Jesus 
Christ  and  his  apostles  urge  the  doctrine  of  suitable 
rewards  and  punishments  pending  the  conduct  of  men ; 
but  they  never  give  out  the  idea,  that  a  future  immor- 
tal state  of  existence  is  either  to  be  bought  or  sold  by 
the  doings  of  men  in  time."^  Rev.  A,  C.  Thomas,  in 
"  Tract "  No.  5,  fully  sets  forth  the  same  doctrine. 

Saj^s  Rev.  Asher  Moore,  "We  therefore  conclude 
that  the  punishment  for  sins  is  in  the  same  state  of 
being  where  men  transgress  the  law  of  God."** 


*  Exposition,    pp.    18,   19.     t  Lecture  Sej-mons,  p.  86.     J  M.,  p.  329. 
§Id.,  p.  335.   TICompend  of  Divinity,  pp.  317,  318.    **Uu.  Belief,  p.  177 . 


NATUEE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  11 

Says  Rev.  0.  A.  Skinner,  "  So  far  as  admission  to 
endless  gloiy  is  concerned,  the  saint  and  sinner  stand 
on  a  perfect  level."* 

In  full  conformity  to  these  views,  Rev.  A.  B.  Grosh, 
editor  of  the  "  Universalist  Companion,"  writes  in 
1856,  "  God  has  established  his  judgment  in  the  earth, 
where  it  is  needed — where  differences  exist — ivhere 
men  sin — where  they  should  be  called  to  account, 
tried  and  punished.  God's  judgment  is  in  the  earth. 
In  the  earth  men  are  rewarded ;"  "the  scriptures  nev- 
er speak  of  men  going  out  of  this  life,  or  leaving  this 
earth  to  go  to  judgment,  but  always  of  God  and  Christ 
coming  to  the  earth  to  judge  men."  He  affirms  that 
"  Christ  is  noio  judging  every  man  according  to  his 
works,"  and  that  Christ's  kingdom,  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  spoken  of  in  the  scriptures,  is  on  the  earth 
alone,  f 

Not  to  multiply  quotations,  hear  the  statement  made 
by  Eev.  N.  D.  George,  of  the  Methodist  denomination 
in  his  recent  work  on  Universalism :  -'We  have  in  our 
possession  a  large  number  of  books,  sermons  and  tracts 
from  their  ablest  ministers,  and  in  them  all  there  is 
not  a  single  effort  to  teach  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments; but  on  the  other,  hand  the  doctrine  is  uniform- 
ly combatted  by  those  authors,  and  the  future-state 
reference  of  those  texts  which  Restorationists  formerly 
employed  to  teach  future  punishments,  is  denied.  We 
called  a  short  time  since  at  the  Universalist  book-store 
in  Boston,  and  inquired  if  there  was  any  book  on  sale 


*Umversalism  Illustrated  and  Defended,  p.  266.     Quoted  from  Rev. 
N.  D.  George's  "Universalism  not  of  the  Bible," p.  231. 
tUn.  Com.  for  1856,  pp.  16,  17,  18,  19. 


12  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

in  wliicli  future  punishment  is  taught,  or  if  any  one  in 
the  denomination  had  issued  such  a  book.  The  man 
in  attendance  said  he  knew  of  no  such  hook  issued 
among  them.  Their  approved  Catechisms,  used  in 
their  Sabbath  Schools,  do  not  teach  it.  They  are  be- 
fore us  by  Balch,  Bacon,  Skinner,  Adams,  and  S.  R. 
Smith,  not  one  of  which  even  intimates  that  there  is 
anything  to  be  dreaded  by  the  shiner  in  the  future 
world."* 

We  are  occasionally  told  that  there  are  some  in  the 
denomination,  who  believe  in  limited  future  punish- 
ment. But  the  men  who  unequivocally  dwell  upon  it 
in  their  teaching  or  their  preaching  are  not  easily  to 
be  found.  In  1841,  Mr.  Balfour  testified  that  though 
he  had  been  twenty  years  in  the  denomination,  "  he 
never  heard  it  preached  but  once,  and  the  preacher 
hardly  said  enough  about  it  to  let  his  hearers  under- 
stand that  he  believed  this  doctrine."!  If  there  are 
those  who  believe  it,  they  do  not  teach  it.  And  when 
you  ask  who  believes  it,  it  is  somebody  else.  Whitte- 
more  says  there  are  some  who  believe  it,  but  he  is  not 
one.  Moore  and  Williamson  imply  the  same ;  but 
they  are  not  the  men.  Ballou  speaks  of  some ;  but  he 
is  not  one.  And  what  is  more,  in  1849,  he  knew  no 
man  who  did  dwell  upon  it  in  his  preaching.  Nor 
could  book  or  tract  be  heard  of  at  the  Universalist 
book-store  in  the  metropolis  of  New  England,  in  which 
future  punishment  is  taught.^ 


*P.  382.  This  work  of  Mr.  George  was  published  the  present  year ; 
it  is  a  work  of  wide  research  and  deserves  a  wide  circulation. 

IQuoted  from  the  Christian  Messenger,  July  17,  1841,  in  M.  H. 
Smith's  "Un.  Examined,"  p.  217. 

iTVlien  hard  pressed  by  argument,  Universalists  sometimes  avow 


NATUEE  AND  CHAEACTERISTICS.  13 

I  fortify  this  point  with  copious  proof,  because  this 
is  the  very  UniversaUsm  on  which  I  propose  to  lecture, 
the  doctrine  which  denies  all  future  punishment.  It 
is  the  characteristic  doctrine  of  Modern  Universalism, 
that  all  men  alike  are  raised  to  blessedness  and  glory.* 

To  this,  all  else  is  shaped.  In  truth,  all  else  is  of 
very  little  separate  account,  being  only  and  obviously 
the  scaffolding  of  this  one  all-absorbing  theme.     To 


Kestorationist  doctrines.  A  popular  preacher  not  long  since  was  nnder- 
stood  by  intelligent  hearers  to  avow  the  Eestorationist  view.  But  I  liad 
heard  the  same  man,  not  three  months  previous,  publicly  endorse  the 
sentiment  that  a  young  man  who  died  impenitent,  and,  as  the  story  went, 
was  consigned  to  the  world  of  woe  by  the  Orthodox  funeral  sermon,  was 
actually  in  heaven  at  the  time  of  a  second  funeral  sermon,  preached 
by  a  Ilniversalist  at  the  father's  request. 

*It  is  a  common  thing  for  members  of  the  denomination  to  convey 
the  impression  tliat  Eestorationist  views  are  widely  prevalent  among 
tliem;  and  I  find  that  many  of  my  brethren  have  supposed  it  to  be  so. 
But  where  is  the  evidence  in  book  or  treatise  ?  Where  is  the  Ilniver- 
salist pulpit  in  which  the  doctrine  is  openly  taught  and  enforced  1  Where 
has  the  Uuivcrsahst  funeral  sermon  been  heard,  in  which  it  was  not  ex- 
pressed or  implied  that  the  deceased,  whatever  his  character,  had  gone 
straight  to  heaven  1 

I  do  not  question  that  iiidividual  preachers — I  loiow  not  how  many — 
may  privately  hold,  but  I  am  very  confident  they  do  not  publicly  teach 
and  promulgate  Rcstorationism.  If  there  are  such  men,  it  is  still  tnie  of 
them  as  in  Nov.  1844,  when  Rev.  Mr.  Drew,  (then  editor  of  tlie  Banner, 
now  Professor  in  the  Tuft's  Ilniversalist  College,)  said  of  them  in  the 
Banner,  "  Their  desire  for  the  peace  of  the  order,  has  caused  them  to  be 
more  careful  than  some  of  diff"ercnt  views  have  been,  as  to  committing 
tlie  order  to  their  opinions."  They  have  been  careful  indeed;  —  "the 
order"  is  nowhere  committed  to  their  opinions  —  it  is  everywhere,  so  far 
as  one  can  Icam,  "  committed  to  the  doctrine  of  no  future  punishment." 

Probably  no  evangelical  writer  has  more  thoroughly  investigated  their 
views  than  Rev.  N.  D.  George,  and  his  testimony  is  as  follows  :  "For 
twenty  years  j^ast,  I  have  been  a  close  observer  of  the  modifications,  tac- 
tics, and  general  operations  of  the  order  of  Universalists,  and  having 
availed  myself  of  their  periodicals  and  books,  by  their  principal  men,  I 


14  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVEESALISM. 

show,  however,  how  thorough-going  is  the  system  in 
rejecting  all  that  Evangelical  Christianity  receives,  and 
lest  any  should  imagine  it  only  an  incidental  differ- 
ence of  systems  otherwise  alike,  I  add  some  of  the 
subordinate  lineaments.  The  leading  writers  to  whom 
I  have  referred,  are  bold  and  open  in  denying  the 
Trinity,  and,  of  course,  the  Supreme  Divinity  of 
Christ.* 

They  reject  with  scorn  and  even  mockery  the  doctrine 
of  a  Vicarious  Atonement.  Moore  pronounces  it  "  a 
mere  medley  of  injustice,  contradiction  and  absurdity, 
—  preposterous  and  shocking  to  all  the  moral  sensibili- 
ty of  our  nature."!  The  doctrine,  Williamson  says,  is 
"  unjjList  in  theory,  impossible  in  fact,  and  pernicious  in 
practice."^  Ballon,  Cobb,  and  others  are  equally  out- 
spoken. 

The  system  denies  the  existence  of  a  personal  Devil  ;§ 
the  fall  of  man,  the  entire  innocence  of  the  first  pair, 
and  the  entire  moral  delinquency  of  their  descendants,  [j 


am  fully  satisfied  that,  whatever  a  few  of  its  advocates  may  profess  in 
certain  localities,  no  future  punishment  is  the  doctrine  of  the  Universalist 
body  in  the  United  States,  the  exceptions  being  very  few.  There  is  but 
little  regard  among  them  for  the  future  punishment  views  of  the  Resto- 
rationists.  The  force  of  their  teachings  for  years,  has  been  against 
them."     Un.  not  of  the  Bible,  preface,  p.  6. 

*Ballou's  Voice,  p.  32  ;  Cobb's  Compend,  p.  169  and  onward;  "Wil- 
liamson's Exposition,  p.  23,  etc. 

f  Pp.  133,  135.     t  Ex.,  p.  44.     §  Voice,  p.  33.     "  Lect.  Serm.,  "  p.  73. 

II "  There  is  no  other  Avay  to  account  for  the  first  transgression  than  by 
admitting  a  constitutional  imperfection  in  the  agent."  Lecture  Sermons, 
p.  65.  "  There  appears  no  authority  for  the  common  opinion  that  the 
first  transgression  produced  a  radical  change  in  the  moral  constitution  o  f 
man,  or  in  consequence  of  the  first  sin  man  became  totally  depraved  and 
altogether  opposed  to  all  good,  and  inclined  wholly  to  all  evil."  lb.,  p. 
73.     See,  also,  Cobb,  p.  423 ;  Moore,  p.  91. 


NATURE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  15 

It  pronounces  the  scripture  narrative  of  the  Tempta- 
tion an  allegory.*  It  denies  that  the  present  life  is  a 
state  of  probation ;  f  that  there  is  a  resurrection  of  the 
human  body ;  J  and  that  there  is  a  judgment  and  ret- 
ribution after  death. § 

While  abundantly  using  the  word  "  forgiveness,"  the 
system  most  emphatically  denies  that  God  ever  does 
forgive,  in  the  sense  of  remitting  the  penalty  of  sin ;  but 
holds  that  all  sin  receives  all  the  chastisement  it  de- 
serves. "  Set  it  down,"  says  Williamson,  "  as  one  of 
the  peculiar  doctrines  of  Universalism  that  no  man  can 
by  any  possibility  escape  a  just  iDunishment  for  his  sins. 
We  believe  in  the  forgiveness  or  removal  of  sin,  not  in 
the  remission  of  punishment,  and  neither  forgiveness, 
nor  atonement,  nor  repentance,  nor  any  thing  else  can 
step  in  between  the  sinner  and  the  penalty  of  the  vio- 
lated law."  II  "  We  maintain,"  says  Moore,  "that  God 
never  swerves  from  strict  justice  in  his  dealings  with 
mankind,  Ijut  certainly  renders  unto  all  the  full  recom- 
pense of  their  doings."^ 

After  making  much  ado  over  the  absolute  certainty 
of  punishment  which  it  teaches,  the  system  proceeds 
deliberately  to  destroy  all  its  influence  by  confining  that 


*Lecture  Sermons,  p.  67. 

t  Plain   Guide,  p.  271;  Exposition,  p.  96;  Compend.,  pp.  65,  115, 
267,  etc.;  Un.  BeUcf,  p.  179. 

I  Compend.,  359. 

§  Exposition,  p.  115;  Compend.  pp.  112,  etc.;  Lectnre  Sermons,  pp. 
269,  etc.,  334,  etc.;  Voice,  pp.  46,  89. 

II  Exposition,  p.  15. 

TTTJuiversalist  Belief,  p.   159.     See  also  Cobb,  pp.  67,  72,  155.;  BaU 
ou.  Lecture  Sennons,  p.  157,  etc. 


16  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

punishment  to  the  present  life,*  and  hmiting  it  to  the 
present  natural  consequences  of  our  actions.^  Pretend- 
ing to  threaten  the  sinner  with  certain  punishment,  it 
tells  him  in  the  same  breath  "  your  punishment  is  only 
what  you  are  having  now;"  and  he  goes  his  way  in 
quiet,  for  he  did  not  know  before  that  he  was  in  the 
act  of  being  punished. 

Still  furthet  to  remove  a  sense  of  the  ill-desert 
and  enormity  of  sin,  the  system  declares  that  even 
punishment  is  never  the  mark  of  God's  displeasure  to- 
wards sinners,  but  always  a  loving  remedy  for  a  disease ; 
—  a  "  mark  of  parental  solicitude  and  affection;"^ — 
and  that  in  fact  God  loves  all  men,  saint  and  sinner, 
alike  and  with  an  equal  love.  And  thus,  while  the 
scripture  informs  us  that  God  "  hates  all  workers  of 
iniquity,"  that  he  "will  render  indignation  and  wrath" 
to  evil  doers,  that  "his  anger  is  not  turned  away,"  that 


*riain  Guide,  pp.  163,  164,  165.  Lect.  Serm.,  pp.  157,  335,262. 
Uu.  Belief,  176,  172. 

t"lf  man  transgress  the  law,  its  penalty  is  unavoidable,  and  is  com- 
prised in  the  evils  in  ivhich  the  transgression  involves  them.  Cobb's  Com- 
pend,  p.  67.  "Wlien  and  where  arc  you  to  receive  the  punishment  of 
your  sins  ?  We  answer  the  question  and  say,  sin  and  misery  are  insepor 
rably  united  in  the  nature  of  cause  and  effect.  When  and  where  we  are 
sinful,  then  and  thei-e  are  we  our  own  tormentors."  Lect.  Serm.  p.  157. 
"  Here  we  have  a  clear  understanding  of  the  Divine  Government  by  re- 
wards and  punishments.  Any  compliance  \ni\\  moral  duty  brings  a  cor- 
responding enjoyment ;  any  departure  from  moral  duty  is  a  coiTCspond- 
ing  discount  on  our  happiness."  Voice  to  TJn.  p.  68.  The  subject  is 
pursued  at  length  by  these  writers. 

%  This  position,  as  a  fundamental  feature  of  Univ.ersalism,  iims  through 
their  writings,  expressly  or  by  implication.  It  is  stated  at  length  in  Wil- 
liamson's chapter  on  "Punishments,"  Moore's  chapter  on  "Rewards 
and  Punishments,"  and  other  places.  This  view,  therefore,  while  retain 
ing  the  word,  rejects  the  idea,  and  denies  the  fact  of  pimishment  proper. 


NATUEE  AND  CHAEACTERISTICS.  17 

"  he  was  turned  to  be  their  enemy," — and  is  sprinkled 
on  ahnost  every  page  with  the  like  declarations,  we  hear 
Rev.  Hosea  Ballon  coolly  assuring  us,  in  the  last  edition 
of  his  Lecture  Sermons,  that  "  the  sinner  is  equally  the 
object  of  divine  love  as  the  righteous" —  that  "Adam 
was  equally  the  object  of  divine  favor  after  he  sinned 
as  before  " — that  "the  opinion  that  our  heavenly  Father 
became  inimical  to  man  in  consequence  of  his  sin,  is 
repugnant  to  the  essential  character  of  the  Divine  Be- 
ing"— and  that  "  neither  sin  nor  any  thing  else  was 
ever  the  cause  of  enmity  in  God  towards  man";  and 
"Williamson  declaring  it  "  an  unquestionable  truth,  that 
God  does  not  hate  any  thing  that  he  has  made."*  Nay, 
so  high  is  the  audacity  and  so  low  the  moral  standard 
of  these  writers,  that  the  one  of  them  informs  us  that 
"  if  sin  were  more  conducive  to  human  happiness  than 
virtue,  it  would  not  be  right  [in  God]  to  prohiljit  its 
practice  ";  and  the  other  declares  that  "  if  there  were 
in  nature  any  thing  more  calculated  to  happify  man- 
kind than  is  the  divine  Being,  that  thing  would  cer- 
tainly have  the  greatest  claim  on  our  love."t 

Having  gone  thus  far,  it  became  further  necessary 
to  deny  all  fundamental  difference  of  human  character, 
and  any  such  radical  change  as  Christians  mean  hj  re- 
generation ;  and  accordingly  we  find  Mr.  Whittemore 
denying  that  the  scripture  recognizes  "  two  classes  of 


*Balloii's  Lect.  Serm.  pp.  25,  152,  309.  "Williamson's  Endless  Pun. 
Ex.  p.  42.  See  the  same  doctrine  in  Williamson's  Exposit.  p.  72-3  ; 
Moore's  Un.  Bel.  p.  93.  See  also  a  singular  Essay  by  H.  Ballon,  Sen., 
on  "  The  Utility  of  Evil,"  in  which  the  dubious  nature  of  the  title  is  by 
no  means  alleviated  in  the  discussion. 

tExposit.,  p.  66;  Lecture  Sermons,  p.  206. 
2 


18  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

men,  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,"  either  in  this  life 
or  at  the  resurrection, — the  same  man  while  doing  right- 
eously is  "  the  righteous,"  and  wickedly  "the  wicked  " — 
that  is  all.*  Mr.  Ballou  cautiously  but  emphati- 
cally endorses  the  sentiment. y  The  latter  writer  also 
declares  that  "  the  church  which  Jesus  loved,"  "  con- 
sists of  every  man  or  the  whole  human  family;"  while 
the  former  artfully  but  distinctly  argues  for  abolishing 
the  distinction  between  churcli  and  congregation,  and 
having  the  whole  audience  join  in  observing  the  Lord's 
Supper.  I 

The  views  of  God's  government  taught  by  the  sys- 
tem would  of  course  render  all  prayer  unavailing ;  but 
christian  decency  forbids  to  dispense  with  prayer.  Ac- 
cordingly, while  here  and  there  an  individual,  (like  Mr. 
Grosh,  of  Utica,  and  Robert  Smith,  then  of  Hartford,) 
have  publicly  disavowed  the  practice,  the  highest  view 
taught  upon  the  subject  is  that  of  those  who  hold  that 
it  may  produce  an  effect  on  us  but  not  on  God ;  §  while 
not  one  of  them  teaches  that  either  prayer,  or  repent- 
ance, or  faith,  or  our  conduct  in  any  shape  or  form, 
has  the  slightest  effect  on  our  condition  hereafter. 
"  The  truth  is,"  says  Williamson, "  man  can  by  his 
faith  and  works  do  something  towards  meliorating  his 


*  Plain  Guide,  pp.  264,  265. 

t  Lecture  Sermons,  pp.  263,  264, 337.  The  writer  endeavors  to  blur  his 
statement  by  occasionally  iising  the  phrases  "  exclusively  righteous"  and 
"exclusively  wicked,"  but  his  meaning  is  transparent;  he  denies  any 
distinctive  clement  in  the  one  that  is  not  in  the  other,  that  is,  any  radical 
diiFerence  of  character  among  men. 

J  Lecture  Sei-mons,  p.  209.     Plain  Guide,  p.  332. 

§  Skinner  and  others,  quoted  by  N.  D.  George,  p.  295. 


NATUEE  AND  CHARACTEEISTICS.  19 

condition  here  ;  but  he  cannot  procure  his  resurrection 
from  the  dead  ;  and  if  he  cannot  procure  the  thing  it- 
self, much  less  can  he  procure  any  modification  of  it. 
All  that  man  is  and  all  that  he  can  be  in  the  resurrec- 
tion he  must  owe  to  God  alone ;  his  feeble  works  can- 
not reach  one  line  beyond  the  grave."  "  If  man's  res- 
urrection from  the  dead  depends  wholly  on  God,  and 
no  human  power  can  effect  it,  so  must  the  state  and 
condition  of  man  equally  depend  on  God,  and  be  equal- 
ly beyond  the  reach  of  human  agency."*  Jesus  Christ 
and  his  Apostles,"  says  Mr.  Cobb,  "  urge  the  doctrine 
of  suitable  rewards  and  punishments,  pending  the  con- 
duct of  men ;  but  they  never  give  out  the  idea  that  a 
future  immortal  state  of  existence  is  either  to  be  bought 
or  sold  by  the  doings  of  men  in  time."f  "  There 
appears,"  says  Ballou,  "  no  more  reason  for  suppos- 
ing that  the  effects  of  these  works  [the  works  of  the 
flesh]  are  to  extend  into  the  immortal  state,  than  for 
supposing  that  the  effects  of  wholesome  or  unwhole- 
some food  are  to  extend  to  that  state. "$ 

The  system  also  teaches  that  Christ,  though  called  a 
Savior  with  most  abundant  phrase,  saves  from  nothing 
beyond  this  life.  "  The  evils  from  which  Jesus  came 
to  save  men,"  says  Whittemore,  "  are  in  this  world ; 
and  for  this  reason  he  came  into  this  world  to  save 
them."  §  "  The  common  doctrine,"  says  Ballou, 
"  which  teaches  us  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  this 


*  Exposition,  pp.  167,  168.     The  same  statement  is   made  in  Tract 
No.  5,  by  Rev.  A.  C.  Tiiomas,  of  Pliiladelphia. 
tCompend.  p.  318. 
}  Lecture  Sermons,  p.  335. 
§  Plain  Guide,  p.  234. 


20  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

world  to  save  us  in  another  world^  is  contrary  to  all  the 
representations  which  are  found  in  the  scriptures."* 
He  saves  men  in  this  world  from  ignorance,  supersti- 
tion and  fear,  by  revealing  a  future  life  of  blessedness ; 
it  is  also  added  for  the  sake  of  appearances,  he  saves 
men  from  sin  ; — but  how,  the  system  has  never  clear- 
ly demonstrated  either  in  theory  or  in  practice. 

As  for  the  institution  of  a  Church  and  the  ordinance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  editor  of  the  Universalist 
Expositor  (whom  Mr.  Whittemore  quotes  with  a  gen- 
eral endorsement)  admits  that  they  are  discarded  in 
practice  by  more  than  two -thirds  of  their  congre^a 
tions ;  and  adds  for  himself,  "  we  have  doubts  of  the 
existence  of  ordinances  in  Christianity  ;  we  mean  in 
the  usual  technical  sense  of  the  term."|| 

Of  the  views  which  extensively  prevail  in  the  de- 
nomination concerning  the  Holy  Scriptures,  I  must  de- 
fer speaking  until  a  future  occasion. 

I  have  given  a  rapid  sketch  of  the  main  features  of 
the  system.  But  after  all,  the  great  theme,  the  grand 
burden  of  the  system,  is  the  doctrine  of  all  men's  sal- 
vation. This  is  the  fore-front  of  it — tfie  beginning, 
the  middle,  and  the  end.  It  is  the  sum  and  substance 
of  the  gospel  —  the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy.  For  this 
the  whole  Bible  is  racked,  and  every  doctrine  it  teach- 
es, wrenched,  and  hammered,  and  clipped.  It  is,  in 
some  form,  the  perpetual  theme  of  the  Universalist 
preacher,  it  is  the  ceaseless  want  of  the  hearer,  it  is 
the  sole,  yea,  let  me  say,  the  forlorn  hope  of  the   Uni- 


*  Lecture  Sermons,  p.  17. 
II  Plain  Guide,  pp.  424,  326. 


NATURE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  21 

versalist's  heart.  In  proof  that  I  do  not  speak  too 
strongly,  hsten  to  their  own  statements.  Says  Mr. 
Williamson,  "  This  is  with  us  the  crowning  excellence 
of  the  gospel  —  a  theme  on  which  we  ever  dwell,  with 
the  most  lively  satisfaction  and  joy.  To  this  grand 
consummation  of  the  Divine  government,  all  the  attri- 
butes of  God  and  all  the  principles  of  the  Divine  gov- 
ernment are  tending."*  Says  Mr.  Whittemore,  it  "  is 
the  central  sun  of  Universalism.  This  with  them 
[Universalists]  is  the  all  absorbing  topic ;  the  crown- 
ing excellence  of  revealed  religion ;  the  richest  glory 
of  God ;  the  highest  honor  of  Christ ;  the  fullest  joy 
of  saints  ;  the  sweetest  answer  to  prayer ;  the  strongest 
motive  to  praise ;  the  most  potent  charm  of  christian 
faith ;  a  fountain  of  consolation  in  life  ;  a  holy  triumph 
in  death  ;  the  joy  of  angels  and  of  the  sj)irits  of  just 
men  made  perfect.  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  the  ulti- 
mate salvation  of  all  the  human  race.^''-f 

But  enough.  The  doctrine  of  universal  salvation  is, 
by  their  own  showing,  the  "  all-absorbing"  feature  of 
the  system :  — and  that,  too,  the  immediate  blessedness 
of  all  men  at  the  resurrection  —  a  blessedness  tvith 
which  neither  their  conduct  nor  Christ's  loork  has  any 
thing  to  do.%  So  far  as  evidence  appears  and  accord- 
ing to  the  recent  testimony  of  its  late  patriarch,  no 
other  doctrine  is  now  publicly  and  emphatically  pro- 


*  Exposition,  p.  18. 

t  Plain  Guide,  p.  18. 

I  How  it  comes  to  pass,  I  have  not  attempted  to  state,  because  it  is 
left  indistinct  by  their  -writers.  A  view  sometimes  stated  and  apparent- 
ly oftener  implied  is  that  "  as  the  present  life  is  the  simple  gift  of  God, 
>o  will  be  a  futui'e  life  of  blessedness." 


22  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

mulgated  tlian  this :  that  every  man,  however  vile  and 
loathsome,  is  raised  from  the  dead  to  enter  at  once  on 
perfect*and  eternal  bliss.  That  is  the  nature,  and  that 
the  central  sun  of  Modern  Universalism. 

I  have  laid  before  you,  as  briefly  as  was  consistent 
with  the  proof  of  my  statements,  the  creed  which  — 
with  occasional  deviations — veiled  by  many  a  circuitous 
phrase  and  orthodox  term,  covered  by  many  a  feint, 
and  sometimes,  as  we  have  seen,  denied  or  retracted 
in  pure  shame  at  its  naked  deformity,  yet  underlies 
and  pervades  the  preaching,  the  books,  the  periodicals, 
of  the  Universalist  denomination  —  taught  by  its 
great  names,  spread  through  its  weekly  sheets. 

Behold  the  system.  And  before  proceeding  to  re- 
fute its  teachings,  let  us  gaze  a  little  on  its  monstrous 
features  at  our  leisure,  as  we  proceed  to  consider 

II.  The  Characteristics  of  Modern  Universalism. 

1.  This  system  is,  in  everj  practical  aspect,  solely 
an  earthly  system. 

Its  aim  is  earthly.  Its  sole  aim  is  to  make  men  hap- 
py in  this  A¥orld.  Do  not  understand  this  as  a  figure 
of  speech  —  it  is  simply  the  literal  fact.  Universal- 
ism tells  men,  indeed,  that  they  shall  be  blessed  here- 
after ;  but  that  is  only  in  order  to  make  this  life  pleas- 
ant and  to  take  away  its  gloom.  All  it  professes  to  do 
for  man  is  confined  to  this  world.  It  is  to  make  no 
difference  with  the  future.  Universalism  does  not  of- 
fer one  shred  of  information,  one  fragment  of  advice, 
one  caution,  or  suggestion,  or  hint  —  not  one  —  that 
has  the  shadow  of  a  practical  influence  on  our  condition 
in  the  life  to  come.     It  does  not  pretend  to  do  it.    It 


NATUEE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  23 

distinctly  avows  that  it  cannot  do  it.  It  does  not  saj, 
"  do  this  and  it  shall  be  the  better  for  yon  in  another 
world ;"  but,  "do  it  or  not,  be  holy  or  vile,  Christ- 
like or  devilish,  you  shall  be  happy  alike.  Believe  the 
statement  or  not, — do  what  you  can  to  defeat  it, — you 
shall  still  be  happy  in  spite  of  yourself."  Not  one  thing 
of  all  its  swelling  words  and  boisterous  proclamations 
is  to  have  the  influence  of  a  feather's  weight,  on  man's 
condition  through  all  that  portion  of  his  being  to  which 
this  whole  life  is  the  first  beat  of  an  eternal  pulse.  It 
stands  up  in  the  pulpit  Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  and  pre- 
tends to  teach  religion,  to  utter  a  communication  from 
the  eternal  God  to  his  immortal  creatures ;  and  yet, 
not  one  word  it  utters  is  to  affect,  in  the  slightest  de- 
gree, that  creature's  immortality  —  it  shall  not,  cannot 
modify  one  hair's  breadth  that  creature's  character  or 
destiny  throughout  all  eternity.  It  openly  snaps  all 
connection  betiveen  a  future  life  and  this,  and  preaches 
to  him  a  message  that  concerns  him  only  while  he  is 
among  the  beasts  that  perish.  And  this  is  preaching ! , 
This  is  a  religion  !  This  is  a  message,  and  all  the  mes- 
sage from  the  God  of  Heaven  !  —  a  message  to  immor- 
tal man,  having  no  practical  bearing  on  his  immortal- 
ity ! 

And  this  is  not  all.  It  is  of  the  earth  in  its  origin 
and  all  its  special  doctrines.  It  contains  not  a  teach- 
ing that  breathes  of  any  higher  original  than  the  soul 
of  sinning  man.  Its  whole  effort,  the  burden  of  its 
teaching  and  its  preaching,  is  to  bring  the  entire  char- 
acter and  requirements  of  the  great  God,  down  to  the 
standard  of  his  fallen  creatures.  The  system  is  a  mere 
naturalism,  and  the  naturalism  of  a  sinner.     Its  per- 


24  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

petual  strain  in  regard  to  God  and  liis  character  is  that 
he  will  not  do  so  and  so,  because  a  human  father  would 
not  do  so.  Its  grand  and  ceaseless  argument  against 
eternal  j3unishment,  which  sticks  out  through  every 
disguise,  is  that  it  cannot  be  true  because  it  is  so  hor- 
rible and  so  shocking  to  the  sensibilities  of  weak,  sin- 
ful man.  God  is,  in  his  moral  character,  little  more 
than  a  magnified  Universalist.  And  in  his  speech  he 
is  represented  as,  like  the  lowest  order  of  men,  in  con- 
stant habits  of  monstrous  exaggeration. 

Sin  against  God  is  not  the  thing  that  "  God  hates," 
an  "  abomination  "  unto  him ;  it  in  express  and  open 
words  denies  that  sin  is  an  infinite  evil,*  or  that  God 
hates  the  workers  of  iniquity  ;  it  is  a  thing  that  a  lit- 
tle earthly  suffering  fully  remedies.  It  studiously  toils, 
as  the  groundwork  of  all  its  pretensions,  to  inculcate 
the  lowest  earthly  view  of  sin  and  of  holiness  —  to 
make  them  just  what  sinful  men  deem  them  and  no 
more.  And  thus  its  doctrine  of  reward  and  punish- 
ment is  equallji  low  and  earthly  ;  it  is  nothing  but  the 
law  of  natural  cause  and  effect,  open  to  the  eye  ol 
every  man  :  vice  produces  unhappiness  ;  and  for  obe- 
dience, says  Ballon,  "  there  is  no  extraneous  reward," 
— "  the  reward  is  the  deed, —  the  reward  is  the  obedi- 
ence itself."  f  And  to  make  this  earthly  view  tenfold 
more  earthly,  it  arrests  the  action  of  the  cause,  and 
violently  breaks  it  off  at  the  hour  of  death,  so  as  to 
reduce  it  to  its  lowest  conceivable  compass.  And  for 
this  natural  result  here  on  earth,  it  offers  no  alleviation. 
"  Set  it   down   as   one  of  the   peculiar   doctrines  of 


*  Voice  to  Un.,  p,  33. 
t  Id.  p.  93. 


NATUKE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  25 

Universalism,  that  no  man  can  by  any  possibility  escape 
the  just  punishment  of  his  sins."*  There  is  no  ame- 
lioration of  that,  with  Christ  or  without  him  ;  wiiile 
neither  Christ's  work,  nor  man's  conduct,  has  any  effect 
on  the  future  state.  And  thus  the  mission  of  Christ 
is  vacated  of  all  that  is  heavenly.  And  though  he  is 
called  a  Sa'sior  and  the  word  Salvation  is  abundant 
enough — they  are  mere  words  for  effect — they  are  void 
words,  by  their  own  showing.  He  saves  from  none  of 
the  punishment  due  to  sin  in  this  life, — that  can  by  no 
possibility  be  escaped,  say  they.  He  saves  from  no 
punishment  hereafter — endless  punishment,  say  they, 
is  in  the  nature  of  things  impossible  with  God.  He 
casts  no  light  on  the  present  punishment  of  sin  ;  men 
know  that  themselves.  And  though  it  is  affirmed  that 
he  came  to  save  men  from  their  superstition,  and 
their  fears  of  the  future,  yet  he  brought  no  new  light. 
For  it  is  one  of  the  most  strenuous  of  all  the  Universal- 
ist  teachings,  that  both  the  reason  of  man  and  the 
book  of  nature  prove,  beyond  all  possibility  of  contra- 
diction, that  God  is  love  and  could  not  inflict  eternal 
punishment.  But,  we  are  told,  "  He  saves,  also,  from 
sin."  How,  I  ask  ?  The  only  answer  is,  "by  precept 
and  example,"  that  is,  in  the  common  earthly  way,  just 
like  any  other  good  man.  And  we  will  cheerfully 
accord  all  proper  credit  to  the  system  for  these  words 
which  it  sometimes  parades  as  a  feint  to  cover  its 
actual  line  of  march,  when  we  can  learn  of  the  first 
human  being  who  has  been  saved  from  the  practice 
and  the  love  of  sin  by  embracing  Universalism. 


*  Williamson's  Exp.,  p.,  15. 


26  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Thus  there  is  not  an  important  feature  of  the  sys- 
tem but  is  human  and  earthly  in  character.  None  of 
its  characteristic  teachings  rise  above  a  man-made 
creed  ;  and  it  gives  man  nothing  whatever  to  do,  or 
think,  or  feel,  that  can  exert  the  least  effect  beyond 
this  world. 

Earthly  in  its  origin,  teaching  and  tendency,  it  is 
ever  dear  to  those  whose  heart  is  bound  up  in  this 
Earth.  Many  such  men  have  confessed,  'that  while 
burrowing  like  the  blind  mole  in  earthly  things,  they 
would  have  been  glad,  and  they  tried  hard,  to  believe 
the  doctrine  and  to  comfort  themselves  with  it  in  their 
low  career;  —  but  common  sense,  and  conscience,  and 
the  word  of  God  barred  their  way.  Yet  many  do 
succeed.  Many  deeply,  thoroughly  worldly  men,  de- 
termined that  they  will  live  only  for  this  present  life, 
do  quiet  themselves  with  the  belief  that  this  life  has 
no  influence  on  the  life  to  come.  They  hold  so, 
because  they  will  have  it  so  ; — and  though  the  word 
of  God,  or  an  angel  of  God  with  a  drawn  sword  stood 
in  the  way, —  yea,  though  God  himself  with  the  sword 
of  justice  does  stand  athwart  the  way,  they  will  go  on. 
They  live,  they  will  live  for  earth, —  they  will  have  a 
doctrine  of  earth. 

Many,  resolved  to  plunge  in  all  manner  of  illicit, 
reckless  pleasure,  are  determined  they  will  not  be  dis- 
turbed by  any  forebodings  of  future  woe ;  and  they 
know  well — they  need  not  my  voice  to  tell  them,  how 
it  came  nor  why  it  is  that  they  cleave  to  that  syren 
song,  "  ye  shall  not  surely  die."  They  know  it  is  not 
from  prayerful  study  nor  even  laborious  examination  of 
God's  word,  nor  from  thoughtful  reflection   of  any 


NATURE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS,  27 

kind — they  have  no  intelligent  knowledge  on  the  sub- 
ject— but  because  it  is  an  earthly  doctrine, — and  be- 
cause it  does  divorce  their  chosen  course  in  this  life  so 
absolutely  from  all  consequences  hereafter.  They 
know  that  thing.  Yea,  the  Sabbath  breaker  loves  it. 
The  great  swindler  proclaims  it  as  his  solace  ;*  the 
petty  swindler  makes  it  his.  The  blasphemer  swears 
out  the  praises  of  its  preachers.  They  love  it  in 
grogshops — the  motley  throng  there  swallow  it  down 
as  greedily  as  they  do  that  other  delirious  draught 
that  fills  their  glass  and  leads  them  down  to  hell.  How 
many  a  man  attempts  to  drown  his  temporal  and  his 
eternal  woe  in  the  same  maddening  cup.  It  is  wholly 
a  doctrine  of  the  earth — of  the  clods. 
•  2.  This  system  is  in  its  moral  tone  low  and  grovel- 
ling. I  cannot  conceive  of  anything  much  lower. 
Under  the  name  of  Christianity  and  the  pretence  of 
honoring  the  Bible,  and  with  pretexts  of  more  or  less 
speciousness,  it  actually  pushes  the  moral  relations  of 
human  existence  lower  than  almost  any  known  system 
of  belief.  Its  views  of  human  life,  of  God,  of  sin,  of 
man's  relation  to  God,  are  in  important  rcbpects  on  a 
plane  of  moral  degradation  below  most  forms  of  Heath- 
enism. Nay,  where  is  the  system  of  Heathenism  on 
God's  earth,  that  cuts  off  every  bond  and  fibre  of  mor- 
al connection  between  this  life  and  the  life  to  come. 
Every  other  form  of  Heathenism  that  holds  to  another 
state  of  being,  holds  to  some  bearing  of  our  moral 
conduct  here  on  our  destiny  hereafter  ;  that,  at  least, 
as  to-day  influences   to-morrow,  so  this  day  of  life 


=*  Bamum's  Auto-Biography,  p.  247. 


28  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

shapes  the  morrow  of  eternity  ;  that  the  warp  threads 
of  human  existence  are  strung  here,  and  run  on  to 
receive  the  woof  beyond.  But  this  system  runs  its 
shears  abruptly  along  and  cuts  every  thread,  and  leaves 
this  life  dangling  loose  and  aimless  in  the  wind.  Heath- 
enism never  sunk  so  low.  It  is  vain  to  evade  by  say- 
ing that  this  life  is  a  state  of  discipline ;  for  the  sys- 
tem distinctly  denies  that  the  discipline  of  this  life  has 
the  slightest  influence  on  our  condition  hereafter  ;  its 
whole  force  is  spent  here,  often  to  no  purpose;  whereas 
John  and  Judas  alike  leave  all  sin  and  suffering  behind 
them  in  the  grave. 

Its  views  of  sin,  also,  are  low.  It  entertains  the 
grossest  pagan  view,  that  sin  is  only  an  evil  of  such  a 
kind,  that  a  little  bodily  pain  or  a  little  mental  remorse 
may  make  all  right  again.  The  fact  of  pain  and  suf- 
fering here,  so  crowds  itself  on  men's  observation  that 
it  cannot  be  denied  —  otherwise,  all  punishment  would 
probaljly  be  held  inconsistent  with  God's  love.  And  it 
is  lower  than  Heathenism  in  its  estimate  of  sin's  ill- 
desert  ;  for  it  holds  that  no  sin,  not  even  that  of  him 
who  commits  murder  and  suicide  in  the  same  minute, 
deserves  or  receives  any  chastisement  hereafter.  If 
there  be  any  form  of  Paganism  in  ancient  or  modern 
times,  in  Scandinavia,  or  in  Africa,  holding  so  low  a 
view  of  the  evil  of  sin,  I  am  not  aware  of  it. 

Equally  low  is  its  moral  tone  in  regard  to  God.  God 
is  substantially  a  mere  instrument  for  making  men 
happy.  "  God  is  love,"  is  its  ever  recurring  phrase  ; 
and  as  Satan  came  quoting  scripture,  transformed  into 
an  angel  of  light,  so  this  system  under  pretence  of 
exalting  God's  love,  tramples  down  all  those  grand 


NATUEE  AND  CHAEACTERISTICS.  29 

moral  qualities  which  form  his  everlasting  glory  ;  it 
sets  its  hoof  ou  the  holiness  that  is  the  brightness  of 
his  crown,  and  its  cloven  foot  on  the  "justice  and  the 
judgment,"  that  are  "  the  habitation  of  his  throne." 
His  judgment  —  even  his  ultimate  moral  discernment 
between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  —  it  sets  aside, 
when  it  affirms  that  after  death  the  saints  of  the  earth 
and  they  that  go  down  foul  and  rotten  with  corruption 
shall  rush  alike  into  God's  loving  arms.  His  justice  it 
speaks  of,  but  that  is  a  word,  and  no  more  ;  it  means 
but  the  action  of  certain  natural  laws  on  earth,  which 
visit  their  own  violation  with  pain — and  that.pain,  not 
as  an  expression  of  God's  displeasure  but  as  the  means 
of  restoring  the  transgressor's  happiness.  And  as  to 
any  such  trait  as  ultimate  and  changeless  holiness  in 
God,  I  find  no  trace  of  it  in  the  system.  The  word 
may  be  there  —  though  of  the  seldomest  —  but  the 
thing  seems  to  be  wanting.  God  is  a  very  glorious 
being  whose  chief  function  is  to  make  all  men  happy ; 
that  is  his  use.  Rev.  I.  D.  Williamson,  showing  the 
reason  why  God  has  any  right  to  punish  sin,  namely, 
becaiise  it  is  "  productive  of  evil  to  man,"  [of  course 
in  this  life,]  uses  these  remarkable  and  significant 
words  :  "  for  if  sin  were  more  conducive  to  human 
happiness  than  virtue,  it  would  not  bo  right  to  prohibit 
its  practice."*  That  is  so  say,  all  notion  of  moral  excel- 
lence, or  moral  character,  or  holiness  in  the  great  God 
himself,  is  over-ridden  and  crushed  out  by  this  grand 
function  and  everlasting  obligation  to  make  even  the 
vilest  of  beings  happy.     God  is  the  mere  tool  and 


*  Exposition,  p.  66. 


30  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

servant  of  reckless  transgressors !  And  thus,  whatever 
moral  precepts  it  may  ntter  in  detail,  it  cuts  them  all 
up  together  by  the  root,  when  it  teaches  that  God  loves 
all  men  alike  in  this  world,  and  will  treat  all  men 
alike  in  the  next.  If  there  is  a  more  grovelling  notion 
of  God's  moral  character  and  functions  to  be  found  in 
the  annals  of  human  degradation  —  tell  me,^oh!tell 
me,  where  shall  I  find  it ! 

Its  moral  tone  suffers  then  in  many  respects,  when 
compared  with  Heathenism.  Not  only  so,  but  even 
when  compared  with  other  forms  of  infidelity.  Infi- 
delity 4ias  generally  contented  itself  with  being  let 
alone  in  another  world  ;  that  is  all  it  has  dared  to  ask. 
The  most  it  looked  for,  has  been  that  man  should  shift 
for  himself,  and  God  be  indifferent.  But  Universalism 
goes  further  than  that  and  offers  a  God  that  shall  and 
must  make  them  happy  at  all  events,  do  what  they  will 
to  earn  misery.  Infidelity  has  only  said  in  its  vile 
carousings,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we 
die."  Nay,  says  Universalism,  eat,  drink  and  be  mer- 
ry, 0  drunkard,  and  adulterer,  and  gambler,  and 
thief,  and  wretch  of  every  shade  and  dye,  for  to-morrow 
ye  go  to  heaven."  And  its  literal  teaching  in  regard 
to  the  filthy  Canaanites,  and  the  vile  Sodomites,  if 
it  admit  the  scripture  account,  has  been  truly  versified 
thus  : 

"  God  saw  those  villians  were  too  bad 
To  own  that  fruitful  land ; 
And  so  he  took  the  wretches  up,  0- 

To  dwell  at  his  right  hand." 

"  Death  is  a  sleep,"  was  the  most  that  those  awful 
Revolutionists  in  the  midst  of  their  crimes,   dared 


NATURE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  31 

inscribe  over  the  tomb.  But  if  Modern  Universalism 
had  been  there,  she  would  have  said  to  those  benighted 
beings  thus  living  below  their  privileges,  "  0  woman, 
rushing  from  the  world  —  reeking  with  all  vice  and 
pollution  ;  0  man,  dripping  with  the  blood  of  murder, 
and  of  suicide,  soar  now  to  glory  and  to  perfect  bliss, 
and  the  loving  embrace  of  God  ! "  Yea,  of  Judas 
himself,  it  is  the  literal  doctrine  of  Modern  Universal- 
ism, if  it  grant  his  suicide,  — 

"He  by  a  cord  outwent  his  Lord 
And  f!;ot  to  heaven  first." 

And  thus  it  is  a  system  whose  strength  lies  not  in 
scripture,  nor  in  reason,  nor  in  conscience,  l^ut  in 
dejDravity ;  in  the  desires  of  a  wicked  life,  or  at  least  an 
impenitent  heart.  None  has  occasion  to  crave  the 
doctrine  but  he  who  is  determined  not  to  repent ;  no 
man  has  occasion  to  build  his  hopes  there,  but  he  who 
refuses  to  obey  the  claims  of  Christ  in  the  gospel.  It 
has  human  depravity  strong  on  its  side  ;  and  that  is 
all. 
And  this  leads  me  to  remark, 

3.  The  system  is,  in  doctrme  and  spirit,  in  irrecon- 
cilable antagonism  to  Evangelical  Christianity. 

Few  men,  I  believe,  take  broader  grounds  of  chris- 
tian fellowship,  than  I  do.  Ev'ery  church  that  holds 
the  central  truths  of  the  gospel,  I  recognize  as  a  Chris- 
tian Church,  however  widely  it  may  deviate  from  my 
own  preferences.  But  here  is  a  system,  which,  on 
every  important  point  relating  to  God,  his  character,  his 
government,  his  plans,  his  principles,  to  man,  his 
nature  and  deserts,  his  destiny,  Christ  and  his  work, 
sin  and  its  punishment,  affirms  what  we  deny,  and 


32  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

denies  what  we  affirm.  We  maintain  that  God  exists 
and  acts  primarily  for  his  own  glory  ;  that  his  holiness 
is  his  chief  glory ;  that  he  hates  sin  on  its  own  account 
and  is  angry  with  sinners  ;  that  sin  is  an  infinite  evil  ; 
that  this  life  is  a  state  of  probation  ;  that  all  men  are 
sinners  and  deserve  only  God's  vengeance  ;  that  it  is 
only  through  Christ's  atonement  that  even  the  Chris- 
tian is  saved ;  but  that  the  penalty  of  sin  is  actually 
remitted  to  the  Christian  for  Christ's  sake  ;  that  no 
man  will  be  saved  as  matter  of  justice ;  that  faith  and 
repentance  here  arc  essential  to  blessedness  hereafter, 
that  they  who  have  them  not  shall  suffer  endlessly  ;  — 
all  which  vital  points  and  many  others  Universalism 
denies.  It  affirms  that  God  has  the  same  kind  of  love 
to  every  human  being  ;  that  his  only  function  is  to 
make  his  creation  happy  ;  that  he  inflicts  pain  only  for 
the  sake  of  making  the  individual  sinner  happy  ;  that 
he  has  no  right  to  inflict  it  for  any  other  purpose ; 
that  the  influence  of  repentance,  faith  and  Christ's 
teaching  are  confined  to  this  life  ;  that  every  man  will 
be  happy  hereafter  as  matter  of  course  ;  that  sin  is  not 
an  infinite  evil,  it  is  a  very  limited  evil,  and  its  only 
bad  quality  is  that  it  makes  men  unhappy  here  ; — and 
many  the  like  things  which  we  utterly  deny.  In  a 
word  we  affirm,  tha't  literally  everything  in  our  destiny 
beyond  the  grave  depends  on  our  conduct  here  ;  Uni- 
versalism, literally  and  absolutely  nothing.  Can  there 
be  a  more  utter  antagonism  ?  And  even  in  those  points 
where  there  may  be  a  seeming  correspondence — a  cor- 
respondence of  words  —  the  antagonism  beneath  is 
equally  great.  We  say  God  "  forgives,"  meaning  that 
he  remits  the  penalty  of  sin ;  Universalism  uses  the 


NATURE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS. 


33 


word,  but  totally  denies  the  tliing.  We  speak  of  God's 
*'  mercy,"  and  his  grace,  meaning  his  goodness  to  the 
undeserving  and  the  ill-deserving ;  that  system  uses 
the  words,  but  knows  no  such  fact.  We  say,  God  is 
love  ;  we  mean  the  love  of  a  holy  God  ;  they,  the  love 
of  a  human  father,  or  a  weak  mother. 

Thus  all  the  chief  things  we  hold,  the  holiness  of 
God,  the  sinfulness  of  sin,  a  radical  change  of  heart, 
the  distinction  of  believer  and  unbeliever,  Christ's 
work,  faith,  pardon,  punishment,  probation,  retribution, 
the  relation  of  life  to  immortality  —  all  these,  as  we 
hold  them,  are  scornfully  rejected  by  Universalism. 

The  advocates  of  the  system  incessantly  affirm  its 
entire  incompatibility  with  our  views,  i  Ballou  speaks 
of  the  "  diabolical  character  "  of  our  views  of  God's 
justice  and  Christ's  atonement.*  Whittemore  says  that 
we  ascribe  "  the  utmost  malignity  "  to  God ;  and,  quo- 
ting the  apostle's  statement,  "  believing  ye  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,"  inquires  whether 
they  could  have  so  rejoiced,  believing  the  doctrine  of 
endless  punishment,  "  unless  they  were  demons  in 
human  form  ?"f  Asher  Moore  calls  our  vital  views 
"  a  belief  that  outrages  reason  and  shocks  humanity."  J 
Williamson  says  that  our  doctrine  of  God  and  his  jus- 
tice is  a  sentiment  which  "  can  originate  in  and  be 
sustained  by  nothing  short  of  the  most  malignant  and 
unpitying  cruelty,"  that  "  it  stoops  to  commune  with 
the  spirit  of  grim  devils  and  infuriate  fiends  of  dark- 
ness. It  delights  in  the  jells  of  the  damned,"  and 
"  those  who  teach  it  do  worship  the  beast  and  his  image, 


*  Voice,  p.  33.    t  Plain  Guide,  pp.  23,  54. 
3 


tUn.  Bel.,  p.  131. 


34  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

and  have  received  the  mark  of  his  name."*  This  is 
the  rant  which  is  somewhat  habitually  poured  forth 
from  scores  of  Universalist  pulpits. 

A  few  years  since  the  following  statement  by  Mr. 
Royce,  an  evangelical  writer,  was  quoted  into  the 
Trumpet :  "  Universalism  has  a  different  God,"  from 
Orthodoxy,  "  a  different  Christ,  a  different  Spirit,  a  dif- 
ferent sinner,  a  different  sin,  a  different  atonement,  a 
different  pardon,  a  different  salvation,  a  different  resur- 
rection, a  different  judgment,  a  different  punishment,  a 
different  heaven  and  a  different  hell;  in  fine, a  difference 
with  respect  to  all  the  essential  doctrines  of  Christian- 

ity." 

Upon  this  statement  Mr.  Whittemore  remarks,  "Mr. 
Royce  is  right.  To  this  we  give  our  assent.  We  con- 
firm his  words,  that  Partialism  is  in  every  sense  a  very 
different  doctrine  from  Universalism.  He  cannot 
represent  the  difference  to  be  too  great."! 

Such  is  their  own  estimate.  And  one  of  the  very 
ablest  of  their  writers.  Rev.  I.  D.  Williamson,  has  thus 
pronounced  his  deliberate  judgment :  "I  have  no 
disposition  to  conceal  the  fact  that  there  is  a  wide  and 
irreconcilable  difference  between  us  and  our  opposers  ; 
nor  can  it  be  denied  that  if  we  are  right,  they  are 
wrong,  not  merely  in  some  small  points,  but  radically 
and,  I  had  almost  said,  totally  wrong.  This  is  a  truth 
with  which  we  are  well  acquainted,  and  that  man  pur- 
sues a  mistaken  policy,  nay,  a  wicked  course  of  hypoc- 
risy, who  attempts  to  conceal  this  fact.  There  is  no 
manner  of  use  in  endeavoring  to  make  it  appear  that 


*  End.  Pun.,  pp.  20,  201.    t  Trumpet,  Aug.  18,  1838.     Quoted  by 
Eev.  N.  D.  George,  p.  376. 


NATUEE  AND  CHARACTERISTICS.  35 

there  is  but  a  shade  of  difference  between  us  and  other 
denominations  ;  for  there  is  a  difference  high  as  heaven, 
wide  as  the  earth ;  a  difference  as  hopelessly  and  utterly 
irreconcilable  as  light  and  darkness  ;  and  there  is  no 
disguising  the  obvious  truth  that  if  our  system  is  true 
the  other  is  false,  desperately  and  hopelessly  false,  I 
had  almost  said,  in  its  whole  length  and  breadth."  "  A 
man  can  no  more  be  a  Universalist  and  a  Partialist, 
than  he  could  serve  both  God  and  Baal.  I  go  further, 
and  say  that  no  man  can  innocently  believe  the  one, 
and  yet  support  the  other."* 

This  statement  I  most  heartily  endorse — ^I  thank  the 
writer  for  it — and  I  commend  it  to  your  consideration. 
Agreeing  with  him  also,  that  concealment  is  not  only  a 
mistaken  policy  but  a  wicked  course  of  hypocrisy — and 
holding,  with  all  the  mind  and  heart,  to  the  great  doc- 
tiines  of  grace,  we  therefore  openly  and  deliberately 
maintain,  using  Mr.  Williamson's  own  words,  that 

4.  That  system  "  is  desperately  and  hopelessly  false, 
in  its  whole  length  and  breadth." 

If  ours  is  light,  as  we  think,  that  is  unmitigated 
darkness.  The  great,  absorbing  and  monopolizing  doo 
trine  of  the  whole  system — its  central  and  only  light, 
or  darkness  visible,  is  the  total  divorcement  of  our 
moral  behavior  here  from  our  condition  hereafter,  and 
the  audacious  doctrine  that  no  matter  how  vile  and 
loathsome,  to  the  last  breath  he  draws,  every  man  shall 
wake  to  perfect  bliss.  It  is  not  held  as  a  side  specula- 
tion, an  incidental  prospect  or  probability.  It  is  the 
whole  scope  of  the   system.     This  is  diuned  in  men's 


*  Exposition,  pp.  215,  216. 


36  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ears  as  the  substance  of  all  doctrine.  For  this,  and  in 
this,  and  by  this,  the  whole  system  has  its  being.  It  is 
the  one  brazen  note  of  their  "  Trumpet,"  the  everlast- 
ing gospel  of  their  pulpit.  It  is  the  kernel  and  the 
covering  of  the  whole  system — its  life  and  glory — its 
body  and  soul — ^its  head,  hoof  and  horns. 

Now  with  such  a  system  as  that,  evangelical  Christ- 
ianity has  nothing  in  common,  but  the  two  covers  of 
the  Bible.  The  systems  are,  we  agree  with  Mr.  Wil- 
liamson, as  utterly  and  hopelessly  irreconcilable  as 
"  light  and  darkness,"  the  worship  of  "  Baal"  or  the 
devil,  and  the  worship  of  "  God."  And  while,  there- 
fore, I  have  no  expectation  or  desire  of  changing  the 
usage  of  speech,  which  classes  it  under  the  general 
head  of  Christianity,  I  make  no  secret  of  the  fact  that 
without  abandoning  my  own  apprehensions  of  Christ- 
ianity, I  cannot  as  matter  of  fact  recognize  the  system 
which  I  have  here  set  forth,  the  system  taught  by  H. 
Ballou,  and  Whittemore,  and  Williamson,  and  Cobb, 
and  Asher  Moore,  as  any  form,  branch  or  part  of  the 
Christian  religion.  And  this  is  the  unanimous  senti- 
ment of  evangelical  preachers  of  the  gospel,  and  intel- 
ligent private  Christians  in  our  churches. 

You  are  thus  prepared  to  understand  the  reason  why 
we  also  maintain  that 

5.  The  ministration  of  the  system  is  no  preaching  of 
the  gospel,  but  of  Satan's  doctrine.  In  truth,  the 
position  is  put  into  our  mouth  by  the  very  advocates  of 
the  system.  They  say  the  two  systems  are  hopelessly 
irreconcilable — as  much  so  as  light  and  darkness,  the 
service  of  God  and  of  Baal.  AVe  take  them  at  their 
own  word  ;  if  our  doctrine  is  of  God,  theirs  is  of  dark- 


NATUKE  AND  CHARACTERISIICS.  37 

ness,  of  Baal,  of  Satan.  There  is  no  help  for  it.  And 
we  add  our  own  word  to  their  admission.  We  believe 
they  proclaim  one  of  the  most  ruinous  and  destructive 
and  groveling  of  falsehoods  ever  broached  on  earth — 
and  we  believe  the  devil  is  the  father  of  lies.  And 
from  before  the  time  when  Lemuel  Haynes  preached 
from  the  text,  "  and  the  serpent  said  unto  the  woman, 
ye  shall  not  surely  die,"  and  from  the  proposition, 
*'  Satan  the  first  Universalist  preacher,"  down  to  the 
present,  that  has  been  the  view  of  all  intelligent  evan- 
gelical Christians.  We  maintain  that  with  our  present 
views  of  Christianity,  whatever  may  be  a  man's 
character  as  a  friend,  a  citizen  and  a  neighbor,  and  all 
that,  yet,  in  his  official  capaciti/,  any  man  who  proclaims 
that  system  is  one  of  Satan's  preachers,  and  not  a  min- 
ister of  Christ's  gospel,  however  eloquent  he  may  be. 
This  view,  I  say,  belongs  to  our  system,  and  not  to  me 
personally.  The  things  are  irreconcilable.  And  if 
this  open  and  deliberate  statement  gives  a  surprise  to 
any  man  in  this  city,  much  more  to  any  evangelical 
Christian,  it  is  time  that  shock  had  been  given  long 
ago.  Men  must  understand  they  are  two  different 
roads — and  make  their  choice  between  them.  If  our 
road  leads  to  Heaven,  theirs  leads  to  Hell.  We  pretend 
to  no  partnership.  And  much  as  I  would  shrink  from 
being  the  keeper  of  a  gambling  saloon,  tempting  young 
men  to  squander  for  naught  their  earthly  subbtance ; 
much  as  I  would  recoil  from  being  the  owner  of  a  dram 
shop,  where  men  arc  beguiled  against  their  better 
knowledge,  to  their  temporal  and  eternal  ruin  ;  with 
far  intenser  horror  should  I  beg  to  be  delivered  from 
the  wholesale  sin^  and  the   awful  responsibility  of  delu- 


38  LECSURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ding,  on  settled  principle,  the  drunkard,  and  the  blas- 
phemer, and  the  rake,  Sabbath  after  Sabbath,  with  the 
cry  of  "  peace,  peace,"  where  God  has  uttered  no  peace, 
and  with  the  hope  that  they  shall  pass  at  once  from  the 
pestilential  atmosphere  of  their  earthly  lives  into  the 
bliss  of  God  on  high.  And  when  this  work  is  done 
under  pretence  of  exalting  God  and  man,  when,  under 
pretext  of  extolling  his  love  and  mercy,  every  high 
moral  attribute  of  God's  nature  is  ground  into  the  dust, 
it  is  but  Satan  transformed,  as  usual,  into  the  guise  of 
an  angel  of  light,  and  his  ministers  transformed  as  the 
ministers  of  righteousness.  1  know  that  it  is  said — 
and  that  is  the  grand  plea — it  makes  the  sinner's  pres- 
ent life  so  happy.  So  does  ardent  spirit  make  men 
happy  ;  but  there's  death  in  the  cup.  So  does  opium 
make  men  happy  ;  but  it  makes  them  fools.  So  does 
delirium  often  make  men  happy  ;  but  it  is  the  happiness 
of  the  madman.  And  oh  !  if  this  doctrine,  so  captivor 
ting  to  a  sinful  heart,  be  but  a  delusion,  what  a  terrible 
delusion  it  is  ;  and  how  dreadfully  it  shall  be  dispelled 
at  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ !  If  it  be  biit  the 
intoxicating  cup  to  the  human  soul,  what  a  very  wine 
of  devils  it  is  ;  and  he  that  has  been  intoxicated  with 
that  cup  throughout  this  short  day  of  life,  to  what  a 
fearful  heartache  shall  he  waken  on  the  long,  dark 
morrow  of  eternity ! 


LECTURE  SECOND. 

THE  MORE  OBVIOUS  MARKS  OP  FALSEHOOD. 

Matthew  XVI :  23,  But  he  turned  and  said  unto  Peter,  Get  thee  behind 
me,  Satan ;  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me  :  for  thou  savorest  not  the 
things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of  men. 

The  tendency  of  some  things  is  recondite  ;  that  of 
others,  direct  and  obvious.  Some  propositions  and 
systems,  like  Cain,  bear  the  devil's  mark  on  their  fore- 
head, as  well  as  in  their  heart.  So  was  it  with  this 
advice  which  Peter  gave  to  Jesus — and  Peter  cringed 
before  rebuke.  So  is  it  with  the  system  of  Modern 
Universalism, — the  system  which  cuts  off  all  moral 
connection  between  this  life  and  the  life  to  come,  and 
teaches  that  all  men,  however  vile  on  earth,  at  death 
awake  only  to  eternal  blessedness,  and  that,  too,  with 
no  aid  from  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  as  destitute  of  external 
verisimilitude,  as  it  is  of  inward  truth.  It  is  hardly 
even  a  whited  sepulchre.  Full  of  dead  men's  bones 
within,  it  is  garnished  with  dead  men's  bones  without. 
In  due  order,  I  shall  examine  the  entire  argument 
on  which  it  rests,  and  indicate  its  rottenness.  For  the 
present,  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  some  of 

The  more  obvious  marks  op  the  ungodly  origin 
OP  Modern  Universalism. 

1.  The  natural  import  of  Scripture  in  all  its  parts, 
is  against  it.  No  recondite  interpretations  are  required 
to  show  the  falsity  of  the  system — it  lies  on  the  whole 


40  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

face  of  the  Scripture  so  clear  that  plain  men  feel  it — 
they  cannot  help  feeling  it.  The  manifest  drift  of  the 
whole  Bible  is,  that  there  is  a  God  of  spotless  purity, 
intensely  abhorring  sin,  the  eternal  foe  of  all  who  per- 
sist in  sin  ;  man  a  sinner,  to  whom  mercy  and  pardon 
are  now  offered  through  Jesus  Christ ;  this  life  the 
scene  of  mercy  and  of  possible  change  ;  the  next,  of 
changeless  retribution,  the  endless  reaping  of  a  life-long 
sowing.  So  transparent  is  the  teaching,  that  it  shows 
itself  to  every  mind  at  first  sight.  The  preacher  who 
teaches  it,  has  but  to  read  straight  on  in  the  Scriptures 
without  note  or  comment,  and  his  hearers  imbibe  the 
doctrine.  The  Bible  speaks  for  him  in  far  more 
awful  terms  than  he  can  invent.  They  that  teach 
Universalism  cannot  venture  to  let  the  Scripture  alone 
— it  requires  a  constant  system  of  ledgerdemain  to  hide 
its  obvious  meaning — a  running  warfare  with  its  plain 
sense.  They  must  select,  and  explain  away,  and  avoid, 
and  soften  down,  and  deny.  God's  fierce  wrath  is  not 
fierce  wrath — his  hatred  of  sin  and  sinners  is  no  hatred 
—  forever  is  not  forever — punishment  is  not  punish- 
ment— forgiveness  is  not  forgiveness — vengeance  is 
love  and  kindness  —  salvation  is  relief  from  anxiety 
and  fear  —  Satan  is  notliing  —  hell  a  figure  of  speech 
with  no  particular  meaning ;  and  so  on  from  beginning 
to  end.  To  frame  the  system  of  universal  salvation  out 
of  the  Bible,  the  volume  has  to  be  put  perpetually  to 
the  rack,  and  every  joint  of  it  dislocated.  And  after 
all,  there  remain  a  multitude  of  passages  which  the 
preacher  loves  not  to  read  to  his  congregation,  and 
many  which  he  dares  not  read  without  comment  or 
change  of  the  text. 


PLAIN  MARKS  OF  FALSEHOOD.  41 

On  this  point,  the  vast  mass  of  good  men  have  been 
agreed  in  all  ages.  The  dissent  among  the  best  Christ- 
ians has  been  literally  of  no  account  —  scarcely  enough 
for  the  natural  vagaries  of  the  human  mind.  This 
unanimous  understanding  of  the  holiest  men,  of  the 
men  who  receive  God's  word  most  Immbly,  is  deeply 
significant. 

Infidels — the  extreme  opposite  class,  the  men  who 
wholly  reject  God's  word — are  also  agreed,  that  the  plain 
teaching  of  the  Bible,  is  eternal  punishment.  Says 
Theodore  Parker,  "  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  taught 
eternal  torment.  I  do  not  accept  it  on  his  authority."* 
So  the  writings  of  Davis  and  Hare  make  this  doctrine 
the  grand  point  of  their  attack,  A  Universalist  preach- 
er was  attempting  to  persuade  an  infidel  member  of  his 
congregation  to  receive  the  Bible,  by  explaining  away 
its  threatenings.  The  infidel  listened  patiently  for  a 
while,  but  at  length  broke  in,  "  It  is  of  no  use  to  talk  in 
that  way ;  the  Bible  is  full  of  hell,  and  every  body 
knows  that  it  is."f  But  why  accumulate  instances, 
when  the  fact  is  notorious  that  skeptics  agree  as  to 
what  the  Bible  teaches  on  this  point.  Says  the  Univer- 
salist, Asher  Moore,  "  All  skeptics,  so  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  ascertain  their  views,  suppose  the  Bible 
to  teach  the  doctrine  of  endless  misery ;  and  on  this 
ground  they  reject  it."  $  What  can  be  more  deeply 
significant  than  the  fact,  that  both  the  great  bulk  of 
those  who  most  humbly  submit  to  the  Bible,  and 
those  who  openly  refuse  its  authority,  agree  on  this  point  ? 

The  more  intelligent  questioners  of  the  eternity  of 

*  "  Universalism  Examined,"  p.  250.    t  Two  Sermons,  p.  14. 
jUniv.  Belief,  p.  51. 


42  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

future  punishment,  who  receive  the  Bible,  admit  that 
their  view  is  not  taught  there.  In  May,  1853,  the 
American  Unitarian  Association  issued  a  Report,  in 
which  they  avow  that  a  large  majority  of  them  hold  the 
doctrine  of  the  final  Restoration  of  all  souls  ;  but  they 
distinctly  say,  "  it  is  our  firm  conviction,  that  the  final 
restoration  of  all,  is  not  revealed  in  the  Scriptu.res," 
but  it  is  only  a  glorious  hope  which  seems  to  them  a 
"  warranted  inference  from  the  cardinal  principles  of 
Christianity,  as  well  as  from  the  great  verities  of  moral 
science."*  Here  is  an  admission  from  a  class  of  men 
who,  for  intelligence,  learning  and  character,  are  as  far 
in  advance  of  the  Universalist  ministry,  as  one  class  of 
men  can  well  be  before  another.  John  Foster  too,  has 
been  often  appealed  to  of  late,  as  doubting  eternal  pun- 
ishment, and  hoping  for  final  recovery,  ages  hence  ; 
but  Foster  distinctly  admits  that  his  questioning  is 
founded  only  on  the  mercy  of  God,  and  that  Scripture 
is  "  formidably  strong"  against  him. 

In  truth,  tlie  system  of  Universalism  would  get  along 
a  great  deal  better  without  the  Bible.  That  consti- 
tutes its  great  difficulty,  its  insurmountable  difficulty. 
It  were  easy  to  frame  a  moderately  plausible  argument, 
but  for  the  word  of  God,  and  a  few  stubborn  facts  in 
Providence.  The  word  of  God  is,  in  truth,  the  only 
source  from  whicli  has  come  the  doctrine  of  eternal 
punishment  to  all  the  impenitent.  And  when  the  thin 
web  of  sophistry  is  spun  ever  so  fine,  the  solemn  warn- 
ings of  Jesus  about  the  soul  and  its  danger,  such 
passages  as  the  story  of  Dives,  the  narration  of  the  final 


*  Annual  Eeport,  May  24,  1853,  p.  28. 


'       PLAIN  MARKS  OP  FALSEHOOD.  43 

judgment,  or  tlie  terrible  words  of  the  apostles,  come 
driving  over  it  like  some  ponderous  wheel  over  the  thin 
gossamer  web  that  lies  on  the  grass.  Its  fabricators 
feel  it  —  they  shrink  from  it  —  they  dread  those  por- 
tions of  Scripture — they  crawl  and  writhe  under  them. 
Their  chief  function  is  to  explain  them  away. 

The  obvious  meaning  of  the  Bible  —  obvious  to  its 
most  submissive  subjects  and  its  most  determined  re- 
jectors alike,  obvious  to  the  common  mind  and  the 
child,  obvious  to  the  vast  majority  of  those  who  have 
read  its  pages — stamps  the  system  not  of  God.  So  ob- 
vious is  the  meaning,  that  advocates  of  Univcrsalism 
frequently  confine  their  reading  to  certain  favorite 
passages  ;  and  instances  are  on  record,  of  those  thus 
trained,  who,  on  reading  the  scriptures  as  they  stand, 
have  been  confounded,  and  have  abandoned  tliek 
belief. 

2.  Another  obvious  mark  of  the  ungodly  origin  of 
the  system,  is  the  emergencies  to  which  it  is  reduced. 

One  of  its  emergencies  is  that  it  is  driven  chiefly  be 
yond  the  Bible.  It  is  essentially  Deistic.  You  may 
observe  it  where  you  will,  the  great  stress  of  the  Uni- 
versalist  argument  is  Us  own  reasonings  about  God's 
benevolence — God's  being  our  Father — and  how  no 
father  can  be  so  severe.  On  that  idea  it  is  perpetually 
harping.*  Not  what  God  has  said,  but  what  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  he  must  do  ;  a  purely  deistic  argu- 
ment. And  in  their  private  arguings,  the  more 
mcautious  of  the  sect  occasionally  avow  that  they  care 
not  if  the  Bible  is  against  them.     Matthew  Hale  Smith 


*E.  g.,  in  Ballou's  Lecture  Sermons  this  appeal  meets  us,  in  a  longer 
or  shorter  form,  between  twenty  and  thirty  times. 


44  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

testifies  that  "  he  has  often  heard  them  say  both  in  the 
pulpit  and  out  of  it,  that  they  would  reject  the  Bible 
if  they  thought  it  did  not  teach  Universalism."*  Sim- 
ilar declarations  have  fallen  under  my  knowledge. 
And  it  is  noteworthy  how  the  arguments  of  the  sect 
are  invariably  preceded  by  the  laying  down  of  certain 
principles,  to  which  the  word  of  God  must  be  wrenched. 
"  First  principles,"  says  Moore,  "  should  govern  our 
investigations  on  every  subject ;  and  whatever  stands 
opposed  to  acknowledged  and  known  truths,  we  may 
safely  decide  has  no  reasonable  claims  to  our  confidence 
and  belief,"  In  the  next  sentence  he  applies  the  prin- 
ciple by  saying  that  "  we  should  carefully  exclude  from 
our  crcdenda  every  principle  that  stands  opposed  in  its 
nature  or  tendency  to  [the  attribute  of]  love."  Of 
course  the  case  is  settled  for  him.  The  same  writer  asks 
significantly  concerning  the  skeptic,  "When  such  [i.e. 
eternal  punishment]  is  declared  to  be  the  doctrine  of 
that  book  which  proclaims  good  tidings  of  great  joy 
that  shall  be  to  all  people,  who  can  blame  a  man  for 
pausing  to  inquire  before  he  believes  ?"t  Hosea  Bal- 
lon deliberately  informs  us  that  he  "  should  feel  justified 
in  restraining  any  passages,  could  such  be  found,  that 
should  seem  to  favor  an  opinion  so  dishonorable  to 
God,  and  so  revolting  to  our  best  feelings,":}:  Rev.  T. 
B.  Thayer,  after  arguing  universal  salvation  as  an 
inference  from  God's  being  our  Father,  closes  thus : 
"  One  of  two  things  is  certain — if  God  is  the  Father 
of  all  men,  endless  misery  is  false  ;  or  if  endless  misery 
is  true,  God  is  not  the  Father  of  all  men,  and  the  Bible 


*  "Univ.  Examined,  &c.,"  p.  178.    t  Un.  Bel.  pp.  63,  52.     %  Lect. 
Serm.  p.  193. 


PLAIN  MARKS  OF  FALSEHOOD.  45 

is  false.  Reader,  you  cannot  hesitate  in  your  choice."* 
My  hearer,  ponder  this  last  bokl  statement,  pubh^hed 
during  the  present  year,  and  see  what  less  it  means 
than  this :  I  will  sooner  reject  the  Bible  than  receive 
the  doctrine  of  endless  misery. 

So  Williamson  informs  us,  near  the  opening  of  his 
argument,  that  "  man  is  authorized  to  reject  any  and 
every  doctrine  that  contradicts  these  first  principles." 
And  the  nature  of  his  first  principles  may  be  learned 
from  his  remark  a  few  pages  later :  "  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  on  the  supposition  of  the  truth  of  the  doctrine  of 
endless  misery,  the  meanest  worm  holds  the  tenure 
of  his  existence  on  better  terms  than  man :  and  I 
frankly  say,  had  it  been  left  to  my  choice,  I  would  not 
for  worlds  have  accepted  the  gift  of  life,  even  with  a 
possibility  of  its  coming  to  such  a  horrid  catastro})he."f 
There  is  a  confession  for  you — there  is  one  of  the  first 
principles  according  to  which  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible 
are  to  be  received  or  rejected :    an  emergency,  indeed ! 

The  emergencies  of  the  system  show  themselves 
further  yet.  It  bears  the  devil's  mark  in  the  necessity 
it  finds  to  disparage  and  wear  down  all  the  principal 
teachings  of  the  Bible.  See  it  in  the  necessity  to  de- 
grade God  from  the  lofty  throne  on  which  he  describes 
himself  as  "  hating  all  the  workers  of  iniquity,"  to  a 
level  with  themselves.  See  it  in  the  deliberate  attempt 
to  depreciate  the  enormity  of  sin.  It  is  the  settled 
proposition  of  the  system  that  such  men  as  Edwards, 
Payson,  and  the  like,  overestimate  the  evil  of  sin.     A 


*  Tracts  for  the  People  (Boston,  1856),  p.  5L  This  is  the  series  en- 
dorsed by  the  Un.  Companion  and  Register  as  one  of  the  best,  if  not  the 
best,  extant,    t  End.  Pun.  Ex.,  pp.  24,  31. 


46  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

system  reduced  to  such  a  strait,  is  low,  indeed.  We 
need  no  teacher  to  pacify  our  thoughts  of  guilt — we 
need  the  teacher  from  God  to  stir  them  up.  Do  we 
not  know  that  our  own  hearts,  taught  by  Satan,  are 
prone  enough  to  excuse  it?  Is  it  not  our  constant 
temptation  to  say  to  ourselves,  "  our  guilt  is  slight, 
this  sin  is  little  ?"  And  when  a  teacher  comes  aiding 
that  vile  suggestion  of  our  heart,  do  we  not  know  his 
mission  ?  When  a  system  comes  so  seconding  human 
depravity,  is  not  the  Devil's  mark  on  its  forehead  ? 

The  emergencies  of  the  system  show  themselves  in 
its  downward  history.  It  started  on  a  Calvinistic  base 
— it  started  professing  to  receive  all  the  evangelical 
doctrines  save  this  one ;  long  ago  it  saw  the  necessity 
of  rejecting  the  whole  to  speed  its  race  and  save  its 
life,  and  long  ago  it  cast  the  last  fragment  overboard. 
It  started  with  the  unanimous  admission  of  some  future 
punishment ;  but  the  rickety  system  shook  under  the 
load,  and  to  save  itself  in  the  downhill  pressure,  it  cast 
it  all  off  by  the  roadside.  It  has  fulfilled  the  predic- 
tion— "  evil  men  and  seducers  shall  wax  worse  and 
worse ;"  and  its  emergencies  have  been  so  great  and 
increasing,  that  one  by  one  it  has  thrown  away  almost 
everything  distinctive  in  the  Bible, — Christ's  Divinity, 
the  atonement,  eternal  salvation  by  Christ,  depravity, 
regeneration,  probation,  forgiveness  proper,  and  pun- 
islmient  proper,  whether  here  or  hereafter. 

3.  The  inconsistencies  and  gross  absurdities  of  the 
system,  clearly  show  its  ungodly  origin.  It  is  a  bundle 
of  contradictions.  It  now  assures  us  that  men  will  be 
saved  because  God  is  a  merciful  God ;  and  on  the  next 
page  vii'tually  denies  all  mercy  in  our  salvation,  for  it 


PLAIN  MARKS  OP  FALSEHOOD.  4T 

holds  that  all  sin  is  punished  to  the  full  extent  of  its 
desert ;  and  consequently  we  are  saved  not  of  mercy, 
but  of  justice.  Will  it  be  believed  that  such  a  man  as 
Whittemore,  in  the  very  book  in  which  he  distinctly 
affirms  that  Christ  came  to  save  men  only  from  evils 
of  this  life,  yet  quotes  numerous  passages  that  speak 
of  .Christ  as  a  Savior,  in  order  to  prove  the  doctrine  of 
final  blessedness  ?    Yet  it  is  even  so.* 

Will  it  be  believed,  too,  that  the  system  can  be  so 
inconsistent  as  to  assert  that  certain  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture have  had  their  entire  fulfilment  here  on  earth,  and 
yet  to  cull  out  extracts  from  those  very  passages  and 
use  them  in  support  of  final  blessedness  in  heaven? 
Yet  it  is  even  so.  In  order  to  escape  the  terrible  force 
of  John's  Eevelation,  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
maintain  that  the  book  had  its  fulfilment  at  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem.  Yet  some  of  the  favorite 
passages  urged  by  them  for  final  salvation  are  from 
that  very  book.  Even  Hosea  Ballou,  2d,  some  years 
ago,  cautioned  them  thus :  "  Universalists  have  not 
wholly  ceased  to  quote  as  proof  of  the  final  reconcil- 
iation of  all  men,  the  following  text :  '  And  every 
creature  which  is  in  heaven  and  on  the  earth  and 
under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all 
that  are  in  them,  heard  I  saying,  Blessing,  and  honor, 
and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  Him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne  and  unto  the  Lamb  forever;'  "fa  text  which, 
if  we  mistake  not  their  views  concerning  the  general 
plan  of  this  book,  they  can  by  no  means  suppose,  on 


*  The  first  statement  is  on  page  254  of  the  Plain  Guide  :  the  argu- 
ments and  quotations,  on  pages  30,  32,  34,  35,  38  of  the  same  vol. 
t  Rev.  5.  13. 


48  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

careful  reflection,  to  refer  to  a  period  yet  future.  It 
should  not  be  forgotten  that  all  the  passages  we  have 
set  down  are  taken  from  those  very  chapters  which  are 
now  universally  regarded  as  having  their  fulfilment  on 
the  earth ;  and  that  unless  we  renounce  this  opinion, 
we  are  of  course  precluded  from  adducing  them  as 
proof  of  "  the  state  of  things  in  another  "s^orld."  .  So 
far  are  they  from  having  ceased  to  do  this  thing  that 
this  very  inconsistency  is  common,  and  their  ablest 
writers  thus  contradict  themselves  in  the  same  book. 
Thus  in  the  stereotype  edition  of  Whittemore's  Plain 
Guide  this  very  passage  is  adduced  as  an  argument.* 
Whittemore  also  uses  as  another  argument,  Rev.  21:4, 
"  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes,"  etc.f 
And  yet  this  very  writer  in  this  same  book,:|:  affirms 
that  the  transactions  recorded  four  verses  before  and 
four  verses  after  this,  are  fulfilled  at  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  In  the  first,  he  goes  back  two  thousand 
years,  and  locates  "  the  book  of  life,"  "  the  second 
death"  and  "  the  lake  of  fire,"  at  the  fall  of  Jerusa- 
lem ;  four  verses  more  and  he  has  strode  forth  into 
eternity,  "  there  shall  be  no  more  death  ;"  four  verses 
onward  he  is  back  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and 
there  is  where  "  all  liars  shall  have  their  part  in  the 
lake  Avhich  burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone,"  which  is 
"  the  second  death !"  And  where,  I  ask,  shall  any  man 
that  deals  so  with  scripture,  have  his  part  ? 

Intending  on  a  future  occasion  to  trace  and  show 
more  in  detail  the  absurdities  of  these  arguings,  I  waive 
a  further   discussion  of  them  at   the  present,  to  say  a 


*  Plain  Guide,  p.  52.     t  Id.,  p.  53.     t  Id.,  pp.  223,  227,  143. 


PLAIN  MARKS  OP  FALSEHOOD. 

few  words  on  the  absurdities  and  gross  imbecilities  of 
the  scripture  explanations  given  by  the  system.  Indeed 
there  is  no  system  about  it,  but  a  series  of  ever-shifting 
and  absurd  expedients,  a  succession  of  juggleries  prac- 
tised on  persons  ignorant  of  God's  word.  The  only 
system  that  runs  through  them,  is  the  constant,  painful 
effort  to  take  off  the  edge  and  power  of  not  alone  the 
passages  which  teach  eternal  punishment,  but  of  all 
that  teach  God's  hatred  of  sin,  his  anger  and  indigna- 
tion, human  danger  and  destiny, — and  to  reduce  them 
to  inanity.  It  is  painfully  instructive  to  read  through 
the  two  hundred  pages,  in  which  Whittemore  thus  passes 
through  his  crucible  a  hundred  and  twenty-six  of  the 
sternest  passages  of  the  Bible,  and  shows  you  nothing 
but  ashes  as  the  result.  For  example,  Christ  himself 
interprets  his  own  parable  of  the  tares,  and  tells  what 
it  means.  "  The  enemy  that  sowed  them,"  he  says, 
"  is  the  devil ;  the  harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world ;  and 
the  reapers  are  the  angels.  As,  therefore,  the  tares  are 
gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire  so  shall  it  be  at  the 
end  of  the  world.  The  Son  of  Man  shall  send  forth 
his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  kingdom 
all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  iniquity ; 
and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire ;  and  there 
shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then  shall 
the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of 
their  Father."  So  Christ  interpreted  his  own  parable. 
But  the  Savior's  interpretation  required  mending  by 
Mr.  Thomas  Whittemore.*  Christ  said  the  •'  enemy  is 
the   devil;" — "it  is  a  'perverse  and  wicked  spirit' 


*  Plain  Guide,  p.  102.     More  fully  in  "Notes  on  the  Parables,"  p.  52. 
4 


50  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

opposed  to  the  spirit  of  Christ,"  says  Mr.  Whittemore. 
"  The  harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world,"  said  Christ ; — 
"  the  end  of  the  Mosaic  age,"  says  Whittemore.  "  The 
reapers  are  the  angels,"  "  the  angels  of  the  Son  of 
Man,"  says  Christ; — "the  angels  mean  the  Roman 
armies,"  expounds  Whittemore,  "  which  God  sent  to 
destroy  his  rebellious  people,  the  Jews."  "  They  shall 
gather  out  of  his  kingdom  all  things  that  offend  and 
them  which  do  iniquity,"  said  Christ ; — "  the  Jews," 
says  Whittemore.  "  Shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace 
of  fire  ;  there  shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth ;" 
— "  the  city  of  Jerusalem,"  says  Whittemore.  "  The 
righteous  shall  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom 
of  their  Father;" — "it  is  the  comparative  earthly 
felicity  of  Christians,"  says  Wliittemore,  "  after  the 
Jews  were  destroyed."  Such  felicity,  doubtless,  as 
they  experienced  when  John  was  banished  to  Patmos 
under  Domitian,  and  they  were  put  to  the  rack  under 
Trajan,  and  became  the  sport  of  wild  beasts  in  the 
Colosseum  under  Hadrian  and  Mark  Aurelius. 

In  this  style  the  system  goes  on.  We  read  in  Whit- 
temore that  "  hell,"  in  its  more  terrible  meaning,  is  a 
filthy  place  in  a  valley  just  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  "hell- 
fire,"  the  fire  that  burnt  the  offal  there ;  "  eternal 
damnation  "  is  the  "judgment  of  the  age;"  "  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 
angels,  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on  them  that 
know  not  God  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,"  indicates  "  the  dissolution  of  the  Jewish 
state;"  "  everlasting  destruction  from  the  presence  of: 
the  Lord,"  is  "  the  banishment  of  the  Jews  from  their 
own  land  ;"  "  eternal  judgment "  is  "  an  ancient  judg- 


PLAIN  MARKS  OF  FALSEHOOD.  51 

ment,"  one  past  long  ago.*  Its  stated  effort  is  to 
reduce  all  the  tremendous  thre'atenings  of  a  holy  God, 
when  God  calls  the  wicked  "  accursed,"  threatens 
"  wrath  without  mixture,"  and  the  like,  to  expressions 
of  iKirenlal  interest  and  promises  of  salutary  correction 
for  their  good :  as  though  an  anxious  parent  should 
describe  his  family  discipline  in  this  wise :  "  Very 
difficult  and  trying  duties  have  devolved  on  me  of  late  ; 
I  have  been  under  the  necessity  of  cursing  my  eldest 
son,  and  pouring  out  upon  him  my  wrath  without 
mixture ;  I  have  made  my  daughter  anathema,  and 
have  come  out  against  her  in  great  fury  and  with  fiery 
indignation.  They  are  cursed  children."!  Such  is 
the  language  which  this  system  describes  as  the  lan- 
guage of  paternal  correction.  How  horrible !  And 
to  crown  the  climax  of  absurdity,  Mr,  Whittemore 
finds  it  necessary  for  his  purposes  to  show  that  Judas 
Iscariot  was  a  specimen  of  genuine  repentance,  whose 
"sorrow  caused  his  death." J     Such  are  the  "  genuine 


*  Plain  Guide,  pp.  135,  190,  192,  197. 

t  Lectures  hj  Joel  Parker,  D.  D.,  p.  36. 

i  Lest  the  reader  should  be  incredulous,  I  quote  the  passage  : 

"  It  should  be  remembered  that  Judas  fully  repented  of  his  sin.  That 
his  repentance  was  genuine,  is  evident  from  the  following  considerations  : 
1.  He  confessed  his  guilt.  2.  He  asserted  the  innocence  of  Christ.  3. 
He  returned  the  money.  4.  His  sorrow  caused  his  death,  which  it  could 
not  have  done  on  any  other  supposition  than  that  it  was  sincere."  ( ! ! ) 
Plain  Guide,  p.  132. 

The  reader  will  see  the  exigency  of  Mr.  Whittemore,  when  he  remem- 
bers Christ's  terrible  words  :  "  It  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had 
not  been  born."  To  destroy  the  plain  force  of  that  passage,  it  became 
necessary  also  to  deny  that  Judas  committed  suicide  (against  the  clear 
statement  of  not  only  our  translation,  but  the  Greek  original),  and  more- 
over, that  it  was  Judas  who  went  "to  his  own  place"   (Acts,  1  :25) ; 


52  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

penitents "  that  people  a  Universalist  heaven  ;  there 
are  many  more  of  the  kind  there,  no  doubt,  besides 
Saint  Judas:  —  Saint  Jeroboam,  Saint  Jezebel,  Saints 
Ananias  and  Sapphira,  and  a  kindred  host. 

Such  are  some  of  the  absurdities  of  which  the  system 
is  full,  and  which  mark  its  origin.  An  infidel  of  Alle- 
ghany county,  N.  Y.,  one  day  met  a  Universalist  and 
addressed  him  thus :  "  You  Universalists  are  the  most 
inconsistent  theorists  in  the  world.  You  say  there  is 
no  future  punishment,  and  yet  you  profess  to  receive 
the  Bible,  and  what  is  more  absurd,  profess  to  prove 
your  doctrine  from  the  Bible.  You  stretch  out  one 
passage  interminably,  and  cut  another  short  oif ;  you 
pull  connected  sentences  apart,  and  put  disconnected 
sentences  together ;  you  set  prophets  at  war  with 
prophets,  apostles  with  apostles,  and  each  one  at  war 
with  himself.  As  sure  as  your  Bible  is  true,  so  surely 
there  is  a  hell.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  not  believe 
there  is  a  hell  any  more  than  yourself ;  but  more  con- 
sistent, I  throw  the  doctrine  of  future  punishment  out 
of  my  creed  by  first  throwing  out  the  Bible.  And 
there  is  no  other  way  to  appear  consistent.  Get  clear 
of  that  old  book,  and  then  you  can  easily  get  rid  of 
the  rest." 


furthermore,  to  take  the  astounding  position  that  Judas's  sorrow  caused 
his  deatli,  and  "  could  not  have  done  "  so,  unless  it  were  genuine  repentance. 
Behold  a  good  specimen  of  the  system — denying  the  plainest  statements 
of  the  Bible,  and  then  bringing  platoon  after  platoon  of  the  same  miser- 
able evasions  to  back  the  first. 

Ballou  remarks,  Lect.  Serm.,  p.  290,  that  Judas's  exclamation  when 
ho  threw  down  the  money,  ("  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the 
innocent  blood,")  "shows  the  high  estimation  in  ivhich  this  imhappy  7iian 
held  innocence."    Not  a  bad  specimen  of  Hosea  Ballou. 


PLAIN   MARKS   OP   FALSEHOOD.  53 

4.  A  fourth  mark  of  the  ungodly  origin  of  the  sys- 
tem is  its  moral  tendencies.  But  as  I  shall  probably 
devote  an  entire  discourse  to  this  subject,  I  waive  it 
now. 

5.  A  fifth  mark  of  its  origin  is  the  immoral  sympa- 
thies and  desires  which  it  enlists.  It  is  sure  to  enlist 
the  sympathies  of  the  vilest  of  men ;  and  the  viler  a 
man  becomes,  the  more  earnest  are  his  sympathies  with 
the  system,  and  the  intenser  his  desires  for  its  truth. 
A  man  willing  to  obey  God,  or  a  bad  man  repenting 
truly,  has  no  occasion  to  fear  the  doctrine.  But  vile 
men  determined  to  remain  vile,  are  sure  to  hug  it  to 
their  hearts.  •  It  gathers  up  that  kind  of  sympathy  as 
surely  as  a  magnet  draws  iron,  or  a  carca-ss  draws 
vultures.  And  when  has  conversion  to  Universalism 
ever  led  to  a  reformation  of  character  ?  A  multitude 
of  cases  is  on  record  where  genuine  evangelical  conver- 
sion/ro?^  Universalism  has  led  the  wicked  to  forsake 
his  wickedness ;  but  where  a  case  of  the  converse  ? 
Where  is  the  instance  ?  one  instance — whether  convert- 
ed from  orthodoxy  or  from  infidelity  ?  Nay,  when  the 
evangelical  professor  becomes  a  Universalist,  he  is  very 
sure  to  stop  praying,  and  often  he  begins  to  violate  the 
Sabbath,  to  become  profane  and  reckless ;  or,  when  an 
evangelical  professor  begins  to  do  these  things,  he  is 
very  prone  to  turn  Universalist.  For  example,  when 
the  Second  Universalist  Society  in  Lynn  was  formed, 
it  was  found  by  careful  examination  that  nearly  all 
its  members  were  Methodist  backsliders — ^men  who 
had  lost  their  religion,  as  they  phrase  it.*     A  system 


*  Cooke's  "  Two  Centuries." 


5i  LECTURES   OX  rNIVER3ALI5M. 

that  enlists  sucli  sympatluos  has  a  hnd  brand  on  it. 
6.  Common  sense  and  genei'al  constcience  stamp  it 
as  ungodly  in  its  origin.  Let  it  meanwhile  be  borne 
ill  mind  that  the  system  holds  out  the  strongest  possi- 
ble temptations  to  belief,  if  it  could  but  be  made 
plausible.  Every  man  who  has  not  submitted  to  the 
claims  of  Christ — that  is,  all  men  at  some  period  of 
life,  and  many  men  all  through  their  lives — is  tempted 
powerfully  to  embrace  the  sj  stem.  Our  affection  for 
our  departed  friends  also  proffers  strong  inducements 
to  lay  hold  of  it.  I  heard  one  say — and  I  saw  the 
work  of  the  Tempter,  for  it  is  the  frequent  appeal  of  his 
emissaries — "  One  who  has  lost  friends  ?is  I  have,  is 
strongly  persuaded  to  doubt  the  doctrine  of  fnturo 
punishment."  I  heard  another  say — and  his  career 
had  been  a  wild  one — "  I  have  tried  hard  to  believe  in 
Universal  salvation,  but  neither  the  Bible  nor  common 
sense  would  suffer  it."  Yes,  notwithstanding  the 
powerful  and  universal  temptations,  the  common  sense 
and  the  common  conscience  rise  above  it.  The  hea- 
then never  sunk  so  low  in  their  moral  notions  as  to 
think  the  gods  would  put  no  difference  hereafter  be- 
tw^een  the  good  man  and  the  bad.  You  must  tamper 
long  with  any  man's  reason  and  conscience,  who  has 
seen  how  some  single  sin  often  dogs  the  sinner  with  its 
punishment  from  eai'ly  youth  to  hoajy  age,  and  how 
character  flows  on  like  a  ri-er  in  an  nnbroken  stream, 
before  you  can  persuade  him  that  tlic  man  who,  after 
a  life  of  iniquity,  lies  down  with  his  soul  putrid  with 
corruption,  and  shuts  his  eyes,  breathing  out^ualice 
and  blasphemy  against  man  and  God  and  Christ,  in 
the  next  moment  comes  forth  like  an  angel  of  God, 


PLAIN  MARKS  OF  FALSEHOOD.  56 

pure,  holy  and  seraphic,  free  from  all  relic  of  the 
blasphemies  that  filled  his  throat  an  instant  before  ; — 
that  the  man  struck  down  in  the  scene  of  low  vice  is 
offering  sweet  incense  unto  God  while  the  body  that 
he  left  is  still  reeking  with  rum,  and  that  his  soul  is 
swelling  with  rapturous  songs  to  Christ  ere  the  echoes 
of  his  cursings  have  died  out  from  the  drunkard's 
saloon  below.  You  may  talk  to  him  in  vague  terms, 
as  you  will,  of  all  men's  entering  heaven  alike ;  but 
bring  him  actually  to  look  in  on  such  scenes  as  where 
Hervey  or  Scott  or  Payson,  after  long  lives  of  growing 
purity  and  love  to  God,  are  breathing  out  their  souls 
in  strains  of  heavenly  affection  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
longing  to  be  in  his  presence — then  on  such  scenes  as 
where  Thomas  Paine,  after  a  life  of  evil  influence  and 
of  foul  iniquity,  now  lies  sinkin  g  to  his  grave,  steeped 
much  of  the  time  in  strong  drink,  shrieking  when  left 
alone  by  day  or  night,  shocking  with  his  abusive  lan- 
guage the  kind  woman  who  acted  as  his  nurse,  now 
alarming  the  whole  house  with  his  incessant  cries — 
"  0  Lord  help  me !  God  help  me !  Jesus  Christ  help 
me !  "  —  yet  convulsed  with  anger  at  the  very  mention 
of  religion,  and  raising  his  cane  to  strike  the  elder  who 
mentioned  to  him  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ :  let  him 
gaze  in  on  these  different  scenes — tell  him  that  when 
their  breath  stops,  all  these  men  shall  join  hands  in 
loving  companionship  around  the  throne  of  the  Savior 
whom  one  cursed  and  the  other  adored  with  their  latest 
breath,  and  it  shocks  all  his  common  sense. 

The  very  child  sees  through  it.  A  Universalist 
preacher  was  telling  his  little  son  the  .story  of  "  the 
Children  in  the  Wood."     The  boy  asked,  "  what  be- 


56  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

came  of  the  innocent  little  children  ?"  "  They  went 
to  heaven,"  replied  the  father.  "  And  what  became 
of  the  wicked  old  uncle  ?"  "  He  went  to  heaven  too." 
"  Won't  he  kill  them  again,  father,"  said  the  hoy. 
The  question  was  too  much  even  for  the  father ;  he 
never  rested  till  he  renounced  the  system,  and  became 
a  pious  man  and  a  preacher  of  evangelical  religion. 

Nay,  the  truth  is,  this  system  was  too  much  even 
for  the  conscience  and  common  sense  of  the  first  Uni- 
versalists.  It  was  only  by  a  process  of  education  that 
men  sunk  to  adopt  this  system.  They  began  by  liold- 
ing  to  Christ  as  an  atoning  Savior,  to  the  infinite 
ill-desert  of  sin,  from  which  men  were  saved  only  by 
Christ's  merits :  they  believed,  to  a  man,  (so  says 
Hosea  Ballou,)  in  the  limited  future  punishment  of  the 
impenitent.  But  other  men,  educated  under  the  sys- 
tem and  seeing  that  inextricable  difficulties  followed 
the  admission  of  any  future  punishment,  discarded  the 
notion  wholly  ;  and,  as  evil  men  and  seducers  wax 
worse  and  worse,  they  then  found  it  necessary  to  cast 
overboard  all  the  other  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel — 
because  it  was  impossible  then  to  retain  them. "  But  so 
strenuously  did  the  earlier  Universalist  conscience 
resist  these  steps  of  degradation,  that  it  raised  "  a  con- 
flict between  the  preachers  of  Universalism  almost  as 
sharp  as  that  which  had  been  carried  on  between 
Universalists  and  their  opposers,"  threatening  "la^ 
mentable  consequences."*  In  a  downward  course,  as 
usual,  the  Devil  triumphed ;  ])ut  not  until  it  had  been 
proved  that  even  the  Universalist  conscience  at  first 


*  Bcallou's  Yoicc,  p.  36. 


PLAIN  MARKS  OP  FALSEHOOD.  57 

revolted  at  the  system  which  contradicts  the  moral 
judgment  of  the  human  race. 

7.  Another  of  the  obvious  marks  of  the  falsehood  of 
the  system,  is  found  in  the  manifest  uneasiness  of  its 
advocates. 

It  is  difficult  to  get  behind  the  curtain,  and  those 
who  have  once  been  there,  and  come  forth  to  give  their 
testimony,  like  Matthew  Hale  Smith,  are  pursued  with 
an  obloquy  that  impairs  their  testimony ; —  and  it  is 
not  impossible  indeed  that  their  long  subjection  to 
demoralizing  influences  may  sometimes  leave  a  per- 
manent effect  on  their  habits  of  speech.  Mr.  Smith 
has  given  a  sad  picture  of  the  unsettled  views  of  many 
who  are  to  appearance  unwavering  advocates  of  the 
system,  and  has  introduced  us  to  the  unsolved  doubts 
of  even  their  preachers,  and  their  private  admissions 
of  the  sophistry  of  much  of  their  arguments.  I  do  not 
however  propose  to  avail  myself  of  that  evidence  on 
the  present  occasion.  There  is  other  evidence  more 
obvious. 

It  is  found  partly  in  the  writhing  of  Universalists 
under  the  preaching  of  judgment  and  retribution. 
Kegarding  it  as  an  exploded  superstition,  it  ought  to 
affect  them,  when  they  hear  it,  no  more  than  a  heathen 
fable ;  at  most  they  sliould  merely  pity  the  weakness 
of  us  who  believe  it.  But  is  that  the  fact  ?  Not  so — 
not  at  all.  Let  an  advocate  of  that  system  be  present 
on  some  occasion  when  the  doctrine  of  God's  future 
vengeance  toward  the  wicked  is  fully  set  forth,  and  it 
stirs  him  up,  and  agitates,  and  perhaps  exasperates  him. 
He  complains  of  it — he  shuns  it.  He  cringes  under 
the  very  phraseology  of  God  himself — it  distresses  him 


58  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

to  hear  it.  It  is  the  testimony  of  his  drugged  con- 
science, pierced  by  the  truth,  and  showing  by  its 
writhings  that  it  has  been  reached  by  no  other  weapon 
than  that  two-edged  sword,  which  is  the  word  of  God. 
The  same  uneasiness  shows  itself  in  the  constant 
warfare  whicli  tlie  system  keeps  up.  It  is  forever 
batthng  orthodoxy,  and  trying  to  get  into  a  contro- 
versy. A  Universalist  congregation,  it  has  been  said, 
cannot  be  kept  quiet  long,  without  having  its  favorite 
opiate.  A  Universalist  preacher  cannot  rest  easy 
unless  he  can  be  wrangling  with  the  Orthodox.  A 
vast  proportion  of  the  sermons  arc  expended  on  this 
subject,  and  a  large  part  of  these  in  explaining  away 
the  troublesome  passages  of  scripture.*  I  have  been 
twice  challenged  to  a  public  wrangle  ;  the  changes  have 
been  publicly  rung  on  my  name  ;  my  stated  preaching 
in  my  own  Church,  has  furnished  themes  for  I  know 
not  how  many  Universalist  Philippics.  The  system 
seems  to  be  like  a  man  when  he  can  reel  along,  but 
cannot  stand  still ;  or,  more  exactly,  when  he  can 
stand  only  by  pushing  against  a  post.  Opposition  is 
its  life  and  soul.  Why,  now,  this  incessant  necessity 
for  a  wrangle  ?  There  is  nothing  at  stake,  if  Univer- 
salism  be  true.  According  to  the  system,  all  will  go 
well  with  us  whether  we  believe  it  or  not !    And  mean- 


*  Smith  says,  (p.  113,)  that  nine-tenths  of  all  the  Universalist  Ser- 
mons he  ever  heard,  aimed  to  disprove  endless  misery ;  and  that  "  at 
least  two-thirds  of*  all  their  preaching  is  designed  to  explain  away  the 
unfavorable  appearances"  of  scripture.     Un.  Ex.,  p.  178. 

Without  insisting  on  mathematical  accuracy  of  proportion,  there  is 
good  evidence  of  ihe  truth  of  this  statement.  In  those  many  places 
where  the  preacher  comes  but  few  times  in  the  year,  it  may  be  questioned 
whether  any  other  subject  of  preaching  is  ever  introduced. 


PLAIN   MARKS   OF   FALSEHOOD.  59 

while  our  faith  makes  us  happy.  Why  thon  not  let  iis 
alone  ?  AVe  who  believe  that  God  Avill  piinii>h  here- 
after, solemn  and  momentous  as  is  the  doctrine,  do  not 
feel  necessitated  to  force  it  out  of  all  proportion  in  our 
preaching.  We  imply  it  always,  indeed,  but  preach 
it  only  occasionally ;  and  then  feel  no  necessity  to 
wrangle  continually  with  opposers.  We  discuss  it  and 
let  it  alone — as  I  shall  now.  We  know  it  to  be  God's 
truth  —  we  rest  satisfied.  But  the  advocates  of  Uni- 
versal Salvation  are  never  easy.  Though  if  their  doc- 
trine is  true,  there  is  absolutely  nothing  at  stake  on  its 
reception,  yet  its  advocates  are  thus  perpetually  boiling 
over  with  the  subject.  What  means  this  incessant 
din  ?  Ah,  I  will  tell  you  ! — it  is  the  sound  of  "break- 
ers ahead  "  —  it  is  the  agitation  of  the  surf  as  it  beats 
upon  the  rocks — it  is  the  tossing  of  the  troubled  ocean 
when  it  cannot  rest,  whose  waters  "  cast  up  mire  and 
dirt." 

Xot  alone  in  its  wrangling  propensities,  but  in  its 
incessant  craving  for  its  customary  opiate,  in  its  keen 
sensitiveness  under  cxamhiation  and  exposure,  or  even 
under  passing  allusions  to  false  teachers,  in  its  eager- 
ness to  warp  to  its  seeming  support  the  names  of  a  tew 
evangelical  believers,  and  by  many  other  signs  it  shows 
that  it  is  not  at  rest.  Difficult  as  it  is,  of  course,  to 
elicit  the  confession,  there  arc  abundant  indications 
that  the  case  of  him  described  by  Dr.  Spencer,  is  not 
uncommon.*  He  was  a  bold  and  zealous  Universalist, 
the  chief  pillar  of  the  denomination  in  the  town  where 
he  dwelt.   His  dauo-hter  who  had  married  and  removed 


*  Pastor's  Sketches,  second  scries. 


60  LECTURES  ON   UNIVERSALISM. 

to  Brooklyn,  was  brought  under  deep  conviction  of  sin. 
She  lingered  long  without  relief,  hindered  by  the 
clinging  remains  of  her  Universalism.  At  length  all 
other  props  gave  way,  except  the  force  of  her  father's 
influence.  While  she  was  in  deep  trouble,  the  father 
spent  a  week  at  her  house  ;  and  though  he  saw  her 
trouble  and  guessed  its  cause,  he  evaded  every  oppor- 
tunity to  explain.  At  length,  as  he  was  on  the  point 
of  departure,  in  deep  anguish  she  threw  herself  upon 
his  neck,  and  entreated  him  by  the  love  he  bore  her 
not  to  deceive  her,  but  to  tell  her  truly  whether  he  did 
believe  that  all  men  would  be  saved.  Overcome  by 
the  appeal,  with  great  agitation  he  replied,  "  I  think  it 
very  likely  that  some  will  be  lost  forever''' — and  hur- 
ried away.  She  corresponded  with  him ;  and  the  love 
he  bore  her  made  him  advise  her  to  adopt  the  Presby- 
terian belief  rather  than  the  Universalist.  With  her 
last  prop  swept  away,  she  gave  up,  and  became  an 
humble  and  i  ejoicing  believer.  But  that  father — what 
of  him  ?  The  very  man  who  had  made  that  admission 
and  given  that  advice,  returned  to  his  post,  and  again 
became,  and  continued  to  be,  the  chief  supporter  of 
the  deadly  delusion. 

Such  cases,  I  say,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  are  not 
uncommon, — the  bold  exterior,  and  the  misgiving  soul. 
It  is  not  in  human  nature  thus  to  come  in  point-blank 
collision  with  the  plain  word  of  God,  without  feeling  at 
times  that  all  human  assertions  are  but  a  frail  guaranty 
that  when  God  threatens  "  everlasting  punishment," 
he  will  break  his  word. 

Their  uneasiness  and  consciousness  of  the  falsity  of 
the  system  often  shows  itself  terribly  at  the  hour  of 


PLAIN  MAEKS  OP  FALSEHOOD,  61 

death.  I  am  not  going  to  deny  that  some  adherents 
of  the  system,  die  sustained  by  their  dehision  ;  nor  on 
the  other  hand,  that  evangeUcal  professors  are  some- 
times troubled  about  their  hope  in  tlie  hist  hour ;  nor 
shall  I  attempt  any  comparison  between  the  proportion 
of  such  cases.  Professors  of  religion  often  have  douljts 
about  their  acceptance  with  Christ,  and  because  their 
lives  have  been  such. 

But  there  is  one  mighty  and  remarkable  difference 
in  tliC  two  kinds  of  cases.  Whenever  a  dying  Christ- 
ian is  agitated  in  the  last  hour,  it  is  with  no  doubts  of 
the  truth  of  his  system  ;  it  is  only  with  fears  for  his 
own  personal  relation  to  that  system.  He  has  lived 
afar  off — his  own  grasp  is  feeble — his  personal  q\\- 
dence  is  dim;  but  the  system  lies  before  him,  an 
eternal  rock.  Give  him  but  clear,  full  assurance  that 
his  own  heart  has  laid  hold  on  that  salvation,  and  he 
goes  down  with  a  calmness  and  confidence  that  not  all 
hell  can  shake,  with  a  liglit  that  the  dark  valley  cannot 
dim.  That  rock  is  there — his  only  question  is,  "  do  I 
stand  upon  it  ?" 

But  when  the  TJniversalist  doubts,  as  he  often  does 
in  that  hour,  it  is  of  the  whole  system  on  which  he 
rests.  The  very  earth  on  which  he  stands  is  crumbling 
away  beneath  his  feet ;  he,  and  his  hope,  and  his 
system,  are  sinking  down  to  hell  together.  It  is  an 
awful  position ; — he  clung  to  the  rock  that  overhung 
the  gulf,  but  alas !  he  sees  it  now  cracking  away,  and 
rock  and  man  are  about  to  be  buried  together  in  the 
boiling  abyss.  Such  is  sometimes  the  terrible  expe- 
rience of  the  advocates  of  the  system.  On  the  29tli 
day  of  September,  1827,  (for  example,)  in  Windham, 


62  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Greene  county,  N.  York,  died  David  W.  Bell,  a  zealous 
defender  of  tliis  pernicious  system,  and  a  writer  for  the 
Gospel  Advocate.  For  several  weeks  while  the  fatal 
disease  was  upon  him,  he  felt  the  miserable  delusion 
to  be  giving  way  beneath  him.  "  Father,"  said  he, 
"  I  find  eternal  punishment,  which  I  have  so  long 
disputed,  now  to  be  an  awful  reality.  As  soon  as  I 
am  dead,  write  to  brother  B.,  and  to  Z.  T.  and  S.  T., 
that  the  doctrine  we  have  tried  to  propagate  is  an 
awful  delusion,  that  it  forsook  me  on  a  death  bed." 
Sometimes  he  would  cry  aloud  to  God  for  mercy  — 
again  entreat  his  Maker  to  annihilate  him ;  sometimes 
he  would  call  on  others  to  pray  —  again  would  beg 
them  not  to  pray  for  him,  for  he  had  already  sealed 
his  own  damnation.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  it  can  alone  be 
for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  others  for  me  to 
be  damned  !  I  must  be  damned  !  I  am  damned  — 
damned  to  all  eternity.  I  cannot  live  in  peace,  I  can- 
not die  in  peace,  without  the  assurance  that  my  renun- 
ciation of  the  delusive  and  dangerous  heresy  shall  be 
as  public  as  my  defence  of  it  was.  Oh,  could  I  speak 
to  those  delvided  Universalists."  And  so  he  died. 
"  The  above  recantation,"  says  David  Bell  his  father, 
"  was  made  by  my  son  when  in  the  full  exercise  of 
reason.  Of  this,  there  are  many  witnesses.  Neither 
was  it  extorted  from  him  or  occasioned  by  sudden 
fright.  It  was  from  a  deliberate  and  settled  conviction 
for  weeks."*  Many,  no  doubt,  die  firm  or  stupid;  but 
there  are  many  such  cases  as  tins — and  in  them  all,  the 
doubt  is  not  of  the  man's  relation  to  the  system,  but 


*  Arvine's  Cyc,  p.  426. 


PLAIN  MARKS  OF  FALSEHOOD.  '  63 

the  system  sinks ;  all,  all  goes  dovrii  together  with  aw- 
ful crash  and  horrible  despair. 

But  ill  the  aiiiials  of  the  world  is  there  a  case  on 
record,  where  a  dying  man  lamented  his  adhesion  to 
the  doctrines  of  grace  ?  And  though  a  Christian  pass 
away  under  a  cloud,  his  lament  is  never  that  he  had, 
but  that  he  had  not,  clung  with  all  his  heart  to  those 
doctrines.  The  despairing  Universalist  charges  his 
ruin  to  his  confidence  in  his  system  —  the  beclouded 
believer  to  non-conformity  to  his. 

But  I  must  close.  In  my  next  discourse,  I  may 
examine  more  minutely  the  Universalist  argument. 
Meanwhile,  I  think  we  may  say  of  a  system  that  so  con- 
tradicts the  obvious  import  of  the  Bible  as  understood 
by  the  common  reader  and  the  great  mass  of  men,  by 
the  best  Christians  and  the  united  body  of  infidels,  as 
well  as  the  more  intelligent  restorationists ;  that  is 
driven  to  such  emergencies ;  that  is  guilty  of  such 
gross  inconsistencies  and  absurdities ;  that  gathers 
round  it  such  a  mass  of  immoral  sympathies  and  sup- 
port ;  that  so  contradicts  common  sense  and  general 
conscience  ;  that  keeps  its  advocates  in  such  an  uneasy 
state,  writhing,  and  wrangling  to  keep  their  courage 
up,  and  yet  often  breaks  down  with  unmitigated  and 
portentous  despair  in  the  most  trying  hour  of  life  — 
we  may  say  of  it,  it  carries  the  mark  of  its  Parentage 
on  its  brow ;  and  we  may  say  to  it  "  Get  thee  behind 
me,  Satan." 


LECTURE  THIRD. 

THE  UNIVERSALIST  ARGUMENT,  DESTRUCTIVE. 

Isaiah  xxviii:  17,  18.  Judgment  also  will  I  lay  to  the  line, 'and  right- 
eousness to  the  plummet :  and  the  hail  shall  sweep  away  the  refuge  of 
lies,  and  the  waters  shall  overflow  the  hiding  place.  And  your  covenant 
with  death  shall  be  disannulled,  and  your  agreement  with  hell  shall 
not  stand ;  when  the  ovci-flowing  scourge  shall  pass  tlu'ough,  then  ye 
shall  be  trodden  down  by  it. 

I  HAVE  exhibited  the  nature  and  characteristics  of 
Modern  Universalism.  I  have  pointed  out  the  more 
obvious  marks  of  falsity  which  it  bears  on  its  forehead. 
I  come  now  more  particularly  to  consider  it  as  "  a  refuge 
of  lies,"  in  its  arguings  ;  and  shall  discuss 

THE  UNIVERSALIS!  ARGUMENT. 

And  here  my  limits  forbid  the  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ordinate errors,  which  fill  up  the  framework  of  the 
system  and  make  it  false  in  every  part.  I  must  confine 
my  examination  chiefly  to  its  main  point,  viz :  its 
denial  of  all  moral  connexion  between  this  life  and  the 
future,  its  assertion  that  all  men,  irrespective  of  char- 
acter and  conduct  here,  and  without  any  indebtedness 
to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  rise  from  the  dead  to  eternal 
blessedness. 

I.  The  most  incessant  and  arduous  labor  of  the 
system — and  the  most  hopeless — is  its  efforts  to  grind 
away  the  fearful  threats  of  God's  word. 


EVASIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  65 

II.  Its  most  impotent  and  distasteful  work,  is  the 
struggle  to  bring  a  few  passages  of  Scripture  to  its 
own  support. 

III.  Its  noisiest  pretence,  is  the  attempt  to  sustain 
itself  by  certain  inferences  from  God's  character. 

IV.  Its  most  effective  appliance,  is  its  constant  ap- 
peal to  the  sympathies,  principles,  and  passions  of 
impenitent  men. 

I  propose  to  examine  these  several  attempts  in  their 
order.     And 

I.  Let  me  show  you  a  portion  of  the  scriptures 
which  it  is  the  chief  business  of  its  advocates  to  break 
down  and  pulverize  ;  and  give  you  specimens  of  the 
mode  in  which  they  are  bereft  of  meaning  by  Univer- 
salism. 

Let  it  be  observed,  however,  that  these  passages 
almost  entirely  omit  that  vast  body  of  texts,  which 
describe  God's  abhorrence  of  sin,  and  his  hot  displeas- 
ure towards  it  and  its  perpetrators.  They  also  omit 
that  immense  class,  filling  the  Bible,  which  proffers  the 
favor  of  God  07ily  on  conditions.  Indeed,  notwith- 
standing the  number  and  the  fearful  distinctness  of 
God's  threats  of  future  vengeance,  perhaps  even  they 
are  less  permanently  impressive  to  the  humble  Chris- 
tian than  those  solemn  constant  assurances  of  his  holi- 
ness and  liis  abhorrence  of  sin,  with  which  his  word  is 
freighted;  and  especially  those  conditional  promises, 
which  alone  are  made  to  the  righteous.  For,  laden  as 
the  Bible  is  with  jjroffers  of  favor  and  blessing  to  the 
righteous,  not  one  of  them  all  —  and  he  that  runs  may 
read  —  not  one,  but  involves  the  condition,  express  or 
implied,  of  love  and  obedience  to  God. 

5 


66  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Indeed,  there  runs  through  the  whole  plan  of  salva- 
tion, and  through  all  God's  addresses  to  sinners,  a 
fearful  sense  of  their  danger,  an  alarming  urgency,  a 
Divine  solemnity  of  warning,  which,  doubtless,  make 
a  deeper  impression  on  the  habitual  reader,  than  it  is 
possible  for  the  most  strenuous  extracts  to  effect.  It  is 
like  the  sight  of  the  actual  Alps,  gathering  all  around 
the  traveller's  way  and  crowding  on  his  gaze,  in  com- 
parison with  the  detached  sketches, of  the  tourist.  He 
feels  that  to  deny  all  danger  beyond  this  life,  is  to  con- 
vert all  that  is  vast  and  solemn  in  the  Plan  of  Salva- 
tion into  mockery  and  farce.  The  contemplation  of 
that  whole  scheme,  as  it  lies  in  God's  word,  and  of 
the  wonderful  mission  of  Christ,  is  fitted  to  produce  the 
highest  sense  of  human  danger.  But  I  must  hasten 
from  the  topic,  with  this  passing  allusion. 

I  shall  not  even  afford  the  time  for  comments  as  I 
proceed,  but  am  willing  —  as  the  Universalist  never 
dares  —  to  leave  the  pure  word  of  God  to  its  own  im- 
pression. But  take  notice  how  little  these  passages 
depend  on  the  use  of  the  word  "  Hell,"  or  any  one 
term  or  phrase,  but  how  all  the  resources  of  language, 
and  every  device  of  imagination,  seem  to  be  racked  and 
exhausted  to  express  the  theme.  It  is  no  pleasant 
task  for  me  to  gather  up  such  fearful  threats.  I  only 
hope  that  God  will  enable  you  and  me,  by  faith  and 
repentance,  to  escape  their  power. 

My  readers  will  not  fail  to  observe,  as  I  proceed,  that 
these  passages,  though  quoted  for  their  bearing  on  the 
doctrine  of  future  punishment,  do  most  abundantly 
maintain  all  the  associated  doctrines  which  Universal- 
ists  discard.     God's  holiness,  his  intense  hatred,  of  sin 


EVASIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  67 

and  his  anger  against  sinners,  human  depravity,  tlie 
need  of  regeneration,  the  radical  diiference  between 
believers  and  unbelievers,  Christ's  work  the  only 
ground  of  acceptance  and  final  salvation,  remission  of 
punishment  for  Christ's  sake,  human  probation, — all 
these  points  and  others  are  incidentally  but  emphatic- 
ally taught  in  the  passages  which  will  be  quoted. 

The  doctrine  of  a  righteous  retribution  after  death 
is  set  forth  in  various  classes  of  texts,  which  perhaps 
may  best  be  contemplated  when  thrown  into  groups. 
But  do  not  forget  to  observe  in  what  immense  variety 
of  phraseology  these  statements  are  conveyed ;  a 
copiousness  and  intensity  which  far  outstrip  all  human 
modes  of  statement  on  the  subject.*  Among  these 
declarations  we  find — 

1.  Passages  which  hold  out  the  offer  of  eternal  life 
as  peculiar  to  the  righteous, —  a  restricted  offer.  God- 
liness is  profitable  unto  all  things,  having  promise  of 
the  life  that  now  is,  and  of  that  which  is  to  come. — 
Being  made  free  from  sin  and  become  the  servants  oi 
God,  ye  have  your  fruit  unto  holiness,  and  the  end 
everlasting  life. — To  them  who  by  patient  continuance 
in  well-doing  seek  for  honor  and  glory  and  immortal- 
ity, [God  will  give]  eternal  life. — They  that  be  wise 
shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and 
they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness,  as  the  stars  for- 
ever and  ever. — He  that  reapeth  receiveth  wages,  and 
gathereth  fruit  unto  life  eternal. — Jesus   saith  unto 

*  111  delivering  this  lecture,  the  author  read  the  passages  from  "Whitte- 
more's  Guide,  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  quoted  there  to  be  assailed  ; 
and  Avas  unable  to  read  more  than  half  for  want  of  time.  In  printing,  it 
was  thought  more  convenient  for  the  reader  to  group  the  texts.  They 
by  no  means  exhaust  the  subject. 


68  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

him,  Sell  whatsoever  thou  hast  and  give  to  the  poor, 
and  thou  shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven. — And  Jesus 
answered  and  said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  there  is  no 
man  that  hath  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or 
father,  or  mother,  or  wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  for 
my  sake,  and  the  gospel's,  hut  he  shall  receive  a  hun- 
dred-fold now  in  this  time,  [this  present  time — Luke,'] 
houses,  and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and 
children,  and  lands,  with  persecutions ;  and  in  the 
world  to  come,  eternal  life. — And  being  made  perfect, 
he  became  the  author  of  eternal  salvation  unto  all 
them  that  obey  him. — Jesus  saith  unto  them,  I  am  the 
bread  of  life  ;  he  that  cometh  to  me  shall  never  hunger, 
and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never  thirst ;  but  the 
water  that  I  shall  give  him  shall  be  in  him  a  well  of 
water,  springing  up  into  everlasting  life. — He  that  be- 
lieveth shall  be  saved. — Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved. — The  righteous  shall 
go  into  life  eternal. — Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in 
the  Lord. — To  him  that  overcometh,  will  I  give  to  eat 
of  the  tree  of  life  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  paradise 
of  God. — For  I  say  unto  you  that  except  your  righte- 
ousness shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven. — Except  ye  be  converted  and  become 
as  little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  the  kingdom 
of  heaven. — Yerily  I  say  unto  thee  except  a  man  be 
born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God.* 


*  1  Tim.  4  :  8.  Eom.  6  :  22  ;  2:7.  Dan.  12  :  3.  John  4  :  36.— 
Matt.  19  :  21.  Mark  10  :  29,  30.  Heb.  5  :  9.  John  7  :  35 ;  4  :  14. 
Acts  16  :  31.  Matt.  25  :  46.  Rev.  14 :  13 ;  2:7.  Matt.  5  :  20 ;  18:3. 
John  3:3. 


EVASIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  69 

Such  is  the  invariable  representation  of  God's  word. 
Its  promises  of  future  blessedness  are  all  restricted  to 
the  righteous,  to  believers  in  Christ. 

2.  Passages  of  Scripture  which  describe  the  future 
states  of  men  in  contrast. 

Men  of  the  world  which  have  their  portion  in  this 
life :  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  in  thy  likeness. 
— The  hope  of  the  righteous  shall  be  gladness ;  but 
the  expectation  of  the  wicked  shall  perish. — The 
wicked  is  driven  away  in  his  wickedness ;  but  the 
righteous  hath  hope  in  his  death. — Say  ye  to  the 
righteous,  it  shall  be  well  with  him ;  for  they  shall  eat 
the  fruit  of  their  doings.  Woe  unto  the  wicked !  it 
shall  be  ill  with  him,  for  the  reward  of  his  hands  shall 
be  given  him. — And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the 
dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake  ;  some  to  everlasting  life, 
and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt. — He 
will  gather  his  wheat  into  the  garner;  but  he  will 
burn  up  the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire. — Enter  ye 
in  at  the  strait  gate ;  for  wide  is  the  gate,  and  broad 
is  the  way,  that  leadeth  to  destruction,  and  many  there 
be  that  go  in  thereat ;  because  strait  is  the  gate  and 
narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth  unto  life,  and  few  there 
be  that  find  it. — Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me, 
Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven. — Many  shall  come  from  the  east  and  from  the 
west,  and  shall  sit  down  with  Abraham  and  Isaac  and 
Jacob  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  but  the  children  of 
the  kingdom  shall  be  cast  into  outer  darkness :  there 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. — The  field  is 
the  world ;  the  tares  are  the  children  of  the  wicked 


70  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

one ;  the  enemy  that  sowed  them  is  the  devil ;  the 
harvest  is  the  end  of  the  world  ; — as  therefore  the  tares 
are  gathered  and  burned  in  the  fire,  so  shall  it  be  in 
the  end  of  the  world.  The  Son  of  Man  shall  tsend 
forth  his  angels,  and  they  shall  gather  out  of  his  king- 
dom all  things  that  offend,  and  them  that  do  iniquity, 
and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire  ;  there  shall 
be  wailing  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Then  shall  the 
righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of 
their  Father. — The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a 
net  that  was  cast  into  the  sea,  and  gathered  of  every 
kind ;  which  when  it  was  full  they  drew  to  the  shore, 
and  sat  down,  and  gathered  the  good  into  vessels,  but 
cast  the  bad  away.  So  shall  it  be  at  the  end  of  the 
world.  The  angels  shall  come  forth  and  sever  the 
wicked  from  among  the  just,  and  shall  cast  them  into 
a  furnace  of  fire :  there  shall  be  wailing  and  gnashing 
of  teeth. — Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful  servant ; 
thou  hast  been  faithful  over  a  few  things ;  enter  thou 
into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord.  And  cast  ye  the  unprofitable 
servant  into  outer  darkness ;  there  shall  be  wailing 
and  gnashing  of  teeth. — Blessed  is  that  servant  whom 
his  lord,  when  he  cometh,  shall  find  so  doing ;  verily 
I  say  unto  you  that  he  shall  make  him  ruler  over  all 
his  goods.  But  and  if  that  evil  servant  shall  say  in 
his  heart,  My  lord  delayeth  his  coming ;  and  shall  be- 
gin to  smite  his  fellow  servants,  and  to  eat  and  drink 
with  the  drunken ;  the  lord  of  that  servant  shall  come 
in  a  day  when  he  looketh  not  for  him,  and  in  am  hour 
that  he  is  not  aware  of;  and  shall  cut  him.  asunder, 
a.nd  appoint  him  his  portion  with  the  hypocrites :  there 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth. — Then  shall 


EVASIONS   OF    SCRIPTURE.  71 

the  King  say  111110  them  on  his  right  hand,  Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  Then  shall 
he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  Depart,  ye 
cursed,  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels.  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal. — ^He 
that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved ;  but  he 
that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned. — He  that  believeth 
on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ;  and  he  that  believeth 
not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God 
abideth  on  him. — The  rich  man  also  died  and  was 
buried,  and  in  hell  he  lifted  up  his  eyes  being  in 
torments,  and  seetli  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus 
in  his  bosom And  Abraham  said.  Son,  remem- 
ber that  thou  in  thy  lifetime  receivedst  thy  good 
things,  and  likewise  Lazarus  evil  things ;  but  now  he 
is  comforted  and  thou  art  tormented.  And  besides  all 
this,  between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed ; 
so  that  they  which  would  pass  from  hence  to  you,  can 
not ;  neither  can  they  pass  to  us,  that  would  come  from 
thence. — The  hour  is  coming  in  the  which  all  that  are 
in  their  graves  shall  come  forth ;  they  that  have  done 
good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life,  and  they  that  have 
done  evil  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation. — What 
if  God,  willing  to  show  his  wrath  and  make  his  power 
known,  endured  with  much  long  suffering  the  vessels 
of  wrath  fitted  to  destruction  ;  and  that  he  might  make 
known  the  riches  of  his  glory  on  the  vessels  of  mercy 
which  he  had  afore  prepared  unto  glory  ? — Be  not 
deceived :  God  is  not  mocked  ;  for  whatsoever  a  man 
soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap.     For  he  that  sowetli  to 


72  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

the  flesh,  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption ;  but  he 
that  soweth  to  the  spirit  shall  of  the  spirit  reap  life 
everlasting. — That  which  beareth  thorns  and  briers,  is 
rejected,  and  is  nigh  unto  cursing ;  whose  end  is  to  be 
burned.  But,  beloved,  we  are  persuaded  better  things 
of  you,  and  things  that  accompany  salvation,  though 
we  thus  speak. — For  the  time  is  come  that  judgment 
must  begin  at  the  house  of  God  ;  and  if  it  first  begin  at 
us,  what  shall  the  end  be  of  them  that  obey  not  the 
gospel  of  God?  And  if  the  righteous  scarcely  be 
saved,  where  shall  the  ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear  ? 
— Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  commandments,  that 
they  may  have  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  may  enter 
in  through  the  gates  into  the  city.  For  without  are 
dogs,  and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  murder- 
ers, and  idolaters,  and  whosoever  loveth  and  maketh 
a  lie. — He  that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things ; 
and  I  will  be  his  God,  and  he  shall  be  my  son.  But 
the  fearful  and  unbelieving,  and  the  abominable,  and 
murderers,  and  whoremongers,  and  sorcerers,  and  idola- 
ters, and  all  liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which 
burnetii  with  fire  and  brimstone ;  which  is  the  second 
death. — He  that  is  unjust  let  him  be  unjust  still ;  and 
he  which  is  filthy  let  him  be  filthy  still ;  and  he  that 
is  righteous  let  him  be  righteous  still ;  and  he  that  is 
holy  let  him  be  holy  still.* 

3.  Passages  which  announce  a  final  judgment  upon 


*Ps.  17:  14,  15.  Prov.  10 :  28,  14,  32.  Is.3:10,ll.  Dan.  12  :  2. 
Matt.  3:  12;  7  :  13, 14;  7  :  21 ;  8:  11,  12;  13:  38  —  43;  13:  47  —  50; 
25:  23;  24:  46  — 51;  25:  34,  41,46.  Mark  16:16.  John  3:36.— 
Luke  16  :  22,  23,  25,  26.  John  5  :  28,  29.  Rom.  9  :  22,  23.  Gal.  6  : 
7,8.    Heb.  6:8,9.    1  Pet.  4  :  17, 18.    Eev.22  :  14, 15;  21  :  7,8  :  22  :  11 . 


EVASIONS   OP    SCRIPTURE.  73 

the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  to  decide  their  doom. 
For  we  must  all  appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive  the  things  done  in 
his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath  done,  whether  it 
be  good  or  bad. — It  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die, 
•but  after  this  the  judgment. — Because  he  hath  ap- 
pointed a  day  in  the  which  he  will  judge  the  world  in 
righteousness,  by  that  Man  whom  he  hath  ordained. — 
I  saw  the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God  ; 
and  the  dead  were  judged  out  of  the  things  which 
were  written  in  the  book,  according  to  their  works. 
— For  we  shall  all  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of 
Christ ;  for  it  is  written.  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord, 
Every  knee  sliall  bow  to  me,  and  every  tongue  shall 
confess  to  God.  So  then,  every  one  of  us  shall  give 
account  of  himself  to  God. — He  that  rejecteth  me  and 
receiveth  not  my  words,  hath  one  that  judgeth  him : 
the  word  that  I  have  spoken,  the  same  shall  judge  him 
at  the  last  day. — The  heavens  and  the  earth,  which  are 
now,  by  the  same  word  are  kept  in  store  reserved  unto 
lira  against  the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  un- 
godly men. — For  as  many  as  have  sinned  without  law, 
shall  also  perish  without  law ;  and  as  many  as  have 
sinned  in  the  law,  shall  be  judged  by  the  law  : . .  .in  the 
day  when  God  shall  judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus 
Christ. — Therefore  judge  nothing  before  the  time, 
until  the  Loid  come,  who  both  will  bring  to  light  the 
hidden  things  of  darkness  and  will  make  manifest  the 
counsels  of  the  hearts. — Every  idle  word  that  men 
shall  speak,  they  shall  give  account  thereof  in  the  day 
of  judgment. — Seeing  it  is  a  rigiiteous  thing  with  God 
to  recompense  tribulation  to  them  that  trouble  you ; 


74  LECTUEES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

and  to  yoii,  who  are  troubled,  rest  with  us,  when  the 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his 
mighty  angels  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on 
them  that  know  not  God,  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. — When  the  Son  of  Man  shall 
come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels  with  him, 
then  shall  he  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  glory  ;  and  before 
him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations  ;  and  he  shall  separ- 
ate them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd  divideth  his 
sheep  from  the  goats — And  these  shall  go  away  into 
everlasting  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life 
eternal.* 

4.  Passages  which  speak  of  the  endless  duration  of 
future  punishment,  positively,  by  the  terms,  "  everlast- 
ing, eternal,  for  ever,  forever  and  ever." 

It  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into  life  halt  or  maimed, 
rather  than  having  two  hands  or  two  feet  to  be  cast 
into  everlasting  fire. — Depart  from  me  ye  cursed  into 
everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels. — 
And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment. 
— He  that  shall  blaspheme  against  the  Holy  Ghost  Ijath 
never  forgiveness  but  is  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation. 
— Who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of 
his  power. — The  angels  which  kept  not  their  first  es- 
tate, but  left  their  own  habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in 
everlasting  chains,  under  darkness,  unto  the  judgment 
of  the  great  day. — These  are  wells  without  water, 
clouds  that  are  carried  with  a  tempest,  to  whom  the 


*  2  Cor.  5:10.  Heb.  9 :  27.  Acts  17:  31.  Eev.20:12.  Rom.  14  : 
10  —  12.  John  12  :  48.  2  Peter  3  :  7.  Rom.  2  :  12,  16.  1  Cor.  4  :  5. 
Matt.    12  :  36.     2  Thess.  1:6  —  8.  Matt.  25  :  31,  32,  46. 


EVASIONS   OF    SCEIPTUEE.  75 

mist  of  darkness  is  reservecl  forever. — Wandering  stars, 
to  whom  is  reserved  the  blackness  of  darkness  forever. 
— If  any  man  worship  the  beast  and  his  image,  and 
receive  his  mark  in  his  forehead  or  in  his  hand,  the 
same  shall  drink  of  the  wine  of  the  wrath  of  God, 
which  is  poured  out  without  mixture  into  the  cup  of 
his  indignation  ;  and  shall  be  tormented  with  fire  and 
brimstone  in  the  presence  of  the  holy  angels,  and  in 
the  presence  of  the  Lamb  ;  and  the  smoke  of  their  tor- 
ment ascendeth  up  forever  and  ever. — And  they  said, 
"  Alleluia !  "  and  her  smoke  rose  up  forever  and  ever. — 
And  the  de^al  that  deceived  them  was  cast  into  a  lake 
of  fire  and  brimstone,  where  the  beast  and  the  false 
prophet  are,  and  shall  be  tormented  day  and  night, 
forever  and  ever.* 

5.  Passages  which  by  the  use  of  negative   terms  de- 
clare the  punishment  of  the  wicked  to  be  endless. 

The  blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost  shall  not  he 
forgiven  unto  men,  neither  in  this  world  nor  in  the  world 
to  come. — He  hath  never  forgiveness  but  is  in  danger  of 
eternal  damnation. — He  that  belie veth  not  the  Son,  shall 
not  see  life ;  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him. — If  we 
sin  wilfully  after  that  we  have  received  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins, 
but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery 
indignation,  which  shall  devour  the  adversaries. — Be 
not  deceived  ;  neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor 
adulterers,  nor  effeminate,  nor  abusers  of  themselves 
with  mankind,  nor  thieves,  nor  covetous,  nor  drunk 
ards,  nor   revilers,  nor   extortioners,  shall   inherit  the 


*  Matt.  18:8;  25:41,  46.     Mark  3:29.     2  Thess.  1:9.     Jude,  6.     2  Pe- 
ter 2:17.     Jiide,  13.     Kev.  14:9— 11  ;  19:3;  20:10. 


76  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

kingdom  of  God. — Now  the  works  of  the  flesh  are 
these :  adultery,  fornication,  nncleanness,  lascivioiisness, 
idolatry,  witchcraft,  hatred,  variance,  emulations,  wrath, 
strife,  seditions,  heresies,  envyings,  murders,  drunken- 
ness, revellings  and  such  like,  of  the  which  I  tell  you 
before,  as^I  have  told  you  in  time  past,  that  they  which 
do  such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord. — Where 
their  worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched. — 
And  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  it  [the  new  Jeru- 
salem] anything  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever 
worketh  abomination  or  maketh  a  lie. — Know  ye  not 
that  the  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God  ?* 

6.  Passages  which  in  various  forms  assert  or  imply 
the  utter  ruin  of  the  wicked  hereafter. 

Woe  unto  that  man  by  whom  the  Son  of  Man  is  be- 
trayed ! — It  had  been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  not 
been  born. — Fear  not  them  which  kill  the  body,  but 
are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul ;  but  rather  fear  him  who 
is  able  to  destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell. — I  will 
forewarn  you  whom  ye  shall  fear.  Fear  him  which, 
after  he  hath  killed,  hath  power  to  cast  into  hell ;  yea, 
I  say  unto  you,  fear  him. — What  is  a  man  profited  if 
he  shall  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  himself  or  be 
cast  away. — Ye  serpents !  ye  generation  of  vipers ! 
how  can  ye  escape  the  damnation  of  hell  ? — From  which 
Judas  by  transgression  fell  that  he  might  go  to  his  own 
place. — The  preaching  of  the  cross  is,  unto  them  that 


*  Matt.  12:31,  32.  Mark  3:29.  John  3:36.  Heb.  10:26,  27.  1  Cor. 
6:9,10.  Gal.  5:19— 21.  Hcb.  12:14.  Mark  9:44,  46,  48.  Rev.  21:27. 
1  Cor.  6:9. 


EVASIONS   OP   SCRIPTURE.  77 

perish,  foolisliiiess. — For  we  are  unto  God  a  sweet  savor 
of  Christ  in  them  that  are  saved  and  in  them  that  per- 
ish. To  the  one  we  are  the  savor  of  death  nnto  death  ; 
and  to  the  otlier  the  savor  of  life  unto  life. — But  these, 
as  natural  brute  beasts,  made  to  be  taken  and  destroyed, 
speak  evil  of  the  things  they  understand  not,  and  shall 
utterly  perish  in  their  own  corruption. — But  after  thy 
hardness  and  impenitent  heart  treasureth  up  unto  thy- 
self wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  who  will  render  to 
every  man  according  to  his  deeds ;  to  them  who  by 
patient  continuance  in  well-doing,  seek  for  honor  and 
glory,  and  immortality,  eternal  life ;  but  unto  them 
that  are  contentious  and  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but 
obey  unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribula- 
tion and  anguish  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil, 
to  the  Jew  first   and  also  to  the  Gentile.* 

7.  Passages  which  limit  the  time  of  preparation  for 
heaven,  and  which  teach  that  the  punishment  of  some 
men  is  remediless. 

Whosoever  shall  deny  me  before  men,  him  will  I  also 
deny  before  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven. —  Whoso- 
ever therefore  sliall  be  ashamed  of  me,  and  of  my 
words  in  this  evil  and  adulterous  generation,  of  him 
shall  the  Son  of  Man  be  ashamed,  when  ho  cometh  in 
the  glory  of  his  Father,  with  the  holy  angels.  —  While 
ye  have  the  light,  believe  in  the  light  that  ye  may  be 
children  of  the  light. —  Behold  now  is  the  accepted 
time;  behold  now  is  the  day  of  salvation.  —  Looking 
diligently  lest  any  man  fail  of  the  grace  of  God. — 


*  Matt.  26  :  24  ;  10 :  28.     Luke  12:5;  9  :  25.      Matt.  23  :  33.     Acts 
1:17.     Rev.  1;  18.    2  Cor.  2:16.     2  Peter  2  :  12.     Rom.  2:5  — 9. 


78  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Then  said  one  unto  him,  Lord,  are  there  few  that  "be 
saved  ?  and  he  said  unto  him,  Strive  to  enter  in  at 
the  strait  gate  :  for  many  I  say  unto  you,  shall  seek  to 
enter  in  and  shall  not  be  able.  When  once  the  Master 
of  the  house  is  risen  up,  and  hath  shut  to  the  door,  and 
ye  begin  to  stand  without  and  to  knock  at  the  door  say- 
ing. Lord,  Lord,  open  unto  us ;  he  shall  answer  and 
say  unto  you,  I  know  you  not  whence  you  are  ;  depart 
from  me,  ye  workers  of  iniquity.  There  shall  be  weep- 
ing and  gnashing  of  teeth. —  While  they  [the  foolish 
virgins]  went  to  buy,  the  bridgroom  came ;  and  they 
that  were  ready  went  in  with  him  to  the  marriage,  and 
the  door  was  shut.  —  Because  I  have  called  and  ye 
refused,  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand,  and  no  man 

regarded I  also  will  laugh  at  your  calamity,   and 

mock  when  your  fear  cometh.  When  your  fear  com- 
eth  as  desolation,  and  your  destruction  as  a  whirlwind ; 
when  distress  and  anguish  come  upon  you  ;  then  shall 
they  call  upon  me  but  I  will  not  answer ;  they  shall 
seek  me  early,  but  shall  not  find  me.  —  He  that  is 
unjust,  let  him  he  unjust  still ;  he  that  is  filthy  let  him 
be  filthy  still.* 

Such  are  some  of  the  varied  forms  in  which  the 
word  of  God  sets  forth  the  fearful  fact  of  a  final  retri- 
bution. Well  might  the  infidel  reply  to  the  Univer- 
salist  preacher,  "It  is  of  no  use  to  talk  in  that  way  ; 
the  Bible  is  full  of  hell  and  every  body  knows  it." 
And  the  thoughtful  reader  will  inquire,  "  If  these  dec- 


*  Matt.  10  :  33.  Mark  8  :  38.  John  12  :  36.  2  Cor.  6  :  2.  Heb. 
12:15.  Lttke  13:  23  — 28.  Matt.  25 :  10.  Prov.  1  :  24  — 28.  Rev. 
22  :    11. 


EVASIONS   OF   SCRIPTURE.  79 

larations  do  not  announce  tlie  doctrine  of  future, 
remediless  punishment  to  the  wicked,  what  forms  of 
human  speech  can  set  it  forth  ?"  Hearer,  can  you  de- 
vise modes  of  expression  more  varied  and  exphcit ! 

And  how  now  can  men  proceed  to  take  off  the  edge 
from  such  terrific  language  ?  You  may  well  suppose  it 
a  Sisyphean  toil — the  restless  rolling  of  the  same  re- 
fractory stone — the  ceaseless  filling  of  the  same  leaky 
vessel.  The  Universalist  pulpit  perpetually  creaks, 
and  their  press  groans,  with  their  uneasy  labors  to 
break  down  the  plain  word  of  God.  To  these  refrac- 
tory passages,  Mr.  Whittemore's  Plain  Guide,  for  exam- 
ple, devotes  a  hundred  and  ninety  pages,  and  refers  his 
reader  to  some  thirty  or  forty  other  discussions  of  many 
hundred  pages  more. 

The  process  is  pitiful.  The  writers  assume  in  the 
outset,  that  God's  character  is  incompatible  with  eter- 
nal punishment,  and  that  any  affirmation  of  such  pun- 
ishment must,  at  all  events,  be  explained  away.  They 
dare  not  gaze  on  the  simple  scripture  statements.  Their 
examination  of  scripture  testimony,  (in  their  printed 
volumes,)  is  invariably  preceded  by  protracted  argu- 
ments, designed  to  abate  the  force  of  scripture  testi- 
mony, and  explain  it  away.  You  must  not  look,  till 
they  have  mounted  their  juggler's  apparatus  ;  and  then 
when  you  look  for  the  character  of  God,  they  show 
you  the  heart  of  a  Universalist. 

These  writers  distinctly  avow  their  settled  determina- 
tion to  bend  the  scripture  to  their  views.  "  Love," 
says  Williamson  in  his  preliminary  discussion,  "  is  the 
very  essence,  the  life  and  soul  of  the  gospel,  and  /  am 
prepared  to  reject  any  and  every  doctrine  and  practice 


80  LECTUEE3  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

as  aiiti-cliristian,  that  is  opposed  to  this  all  pervading 
spirit  of  love."  Says  H.  Ballou,  "  Moreover,  we  feel 
it  to  be  a  duty  to  state  that  in  room  of  straining  par- 
ticular passages  which  speak  of  the  punishment  of  the 
wicked,  so  as  to  favor  the  idea  of  unlimited  punish- 
ment, we  should  feel  justified  in  restraining'  any  pas- 
sage, could  such  be  found,  which  should  seem  to  favor 
an  opinion  so  dishonorable  to  God  and  so  revolting  to 
our  best  feelings.''''  Moore  informs  us  that  "  we  should 
carefully  exclude  from  our  credenda  every  principle 
that  stands  opposed  in  its  nature  or  tendency  to  love." 
Whittemore  deliberately  tells  us  that  the  word  "  ever- 
lasting," "  when  applied  to  punishment,  ought  above 
every  other  case,  to  bear  the  sense  of  limited  dura- 
tion."* 

This  is  sufficiently  distinct  and  intelligible.  And 
you  now  see  why  these  men  cannot  find  future  punish- 
ment in  God's  word ;  they  are  "  prepared  to  reject  any 
and  every  doctrine  "  necessary,  they  "  feel  justified  in 
restraining  any  passage  "  requisite,  they  can  '^carefully 
exclude  from  their  credenda  "  every  principle  "  they 
find  "  opposed  "  to  them,  they  choose  in  the  threats  of 
punishment,  "  above  every  other  case,"  to  restrict  the 
words  of  the  Lord  God. 

Here  you  read  the  grand  maxim  of  Universalism  — 
tampering  ivith  the  ivord  of  God.  Here  you  see  the 
signal  of  their  truceless  war  with  its  plain  statements. 
Here  you  have  the  secret  of  that  rasping  and  hammer- 
ing and  wrenching,  to  which,  from  end  to  end,  the 
scripture  is  subjected,  till  the  most  awful  phrases  and 


*  End.  Pun.  Ex.,  p.  5.  Lect.   Serm.,  p.  193,  Un.  Bel.,  p.  93,  Plain 
Guide,  p.  198. 


EVASIONS   OP   SCRIPTURE.  81 

terrific  threats  are  emptied  of  all  meaning.  It  would 
seem  hardly  necessary  to  give  examples ;  for  no  man 
after  weighing  those  scripture  declarations,  can  fail  to 
feel  that  any  process  by  which  they  are  made  consistent 
with  modern  Universalism,  must  do  violence  to  all  the 
powers  of  language.  Still,  the  exposure  would  be 
incomplete,  without  specimens  of  the  method.  I  will 
cite  them  chiefly  from  one  volume — the  Plain  Guide 
of  Mr.  Whittemore.* 

Now  begins  the  pulverizing  process.  "  Everlasting 
punishment,"  "  everlasting  chains,"  "  vengeance  of 
eternal  fire,"  "  unquenchable  fire,"  "  the  smoke  of  tor- 
ment ascending  forever  and  ever,"  and  the  like,  nev- 
er mean  everlasting,  eternal,  forever  ;  always  limited 
duration,  "temporal  judgments"  (p.  190).  "Eternal 
damnation"  is  "  the  judgment  of  the  age,"  (p.  134)  ; 
"  eternal  judgment"  is  "  a  judgment  long  past,  an 
ancient  judgment,"  (p. 196).  "Shall  not  be  forgiven, 
neither  in  this  world,  nor  in  the  world  to  come,"  and 
"  hath  never  forgiveness,  but  is  in  danger  of  eternal 
damnation"  means,  "  shall  not  be  forgiven  in  the  age 
of  Christ,  nor  the  age  that  succeeds"  (p.  101). 

And  thus  the  terms,  which  throughout  the  Bible, 


*  My  reasons  for  dealing  chiefly  with  this  book  in  the  Scripture  argu- 
ment, are  several :  necessary  limitation  and  the  desire  of  definiteness  ; 
the  willingness  to  show  how  much  rotteness  is  concentrated  in  a  single 
Universalist  book ;  the  prominence  of  its  author,  for  quarter  of  a  century 
editor  of  the  Trumpet,  and  a  noted  champion  and  representative  of  Uni- 
versalism ;  the  plan  of  liis  book,  more  ambitious  and  complete  in  its 
way,  than  any  I  have  found  ;  its  wide  circulation,  amounting  in  1851  to 
ten  or  twelve  thousand,  (if  I  rightly  remember  the  statement  in  the 
"  Universalist  Pulpit")  which  has  probably  given  it  a  greater  influence  in 
forming  New  England  Universalism,  than  that  of  any  other  volume. 
6 


82  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

invariably  denote  the  longest  possible  duration  of 
which  their  subject  is  capable,  and  the  particular 
Greek  term  which  in  the  New  Testament  is  never  else- 
where applied  to  limited  future  time,  but  is  used  of 
God  and  his  glory,  of  Christ  and  his  kingdom,  and 
more  than  fifty  times  to  describe  the  happiness  of  the 
righteous — this  word  "everlasting,"  the  moment  it 
touches  the  punishment  of  the  wicked,  is  suddenly 
emptied  of  its  meaning.* 


*  Uniyersalists  make  much  parade  of  a  few  instances  in  which  the 
Hebrew  term  for  "  everlasting  "  designates  something  less  than  absolute 
eternity,  as  the  "everlasting  hills."  But  the  pln-ase,  when  applied  to 
futui'e  time,  always  denotes  the  longest  duration  of  which  its  subject  is 
capable.  "  Everlasting  hills  "  are  those  which  will  continue  to  the  end 
of  the  world.  "  He  shall  serve  forever,"  i.  e.  during  the  longest  period 
of  which  he  is  capable,  his  whole  life.  Hannah  devoted  Samuel  to  the 
Lord  "forever;"  he  was  never  to  return  to  private  life.  "An  ordinance 
forever"  is  one  which  lasts  through  the  longest  possible  time,  i.  e.  the 
whole  dispensation  of  which  it  is  a  part.  Such  cases,  few  in  number,  do 
not  contravene  in  spirit  the  scores  of  instances  in  which  it  signifies  abso- 
lute eternity — the  original  and  proper  sense  of  the  term. 

The  Greek  adjective  translated  everlasting,  (  aluvtoc  )  when  applied  to 
future  duration,  in  all  cases  (  excepting  for  the  time  its  application  to 
punishment )  denotes  an  endless  period.  It  is  used  sixty-six  times ;  twice 
in  relation  to  God  and  his  glory ;  fifty-one  times  concerning  the  happi- 
ness of  the  righteous  ;  six  times  of  miscellaneous  subjects,  but  with  the 
plain  signification,  endless ;  and  seven  times  concerning  future  punishment. 
(Stuart's  Essays,  -p.  47.)  The  phrase  translated  "  forever,"  (  elg  rbv 
aluva,  and  the  plural  form,)  uniformly  denotes,  "  endless  duration,"  and  is 
emplo3''ed  sixty-one  times,  six  of  lohich  relate  to  future  punishment.  The 
phrase  "  forever  and  ever,"  (  e/f  Tovg  aluvag  tuv  aluvuv  )  also  invariably 
denotes  endless  duration.  It  occurs  twenty-one  times,  eighteen  of  which 
relate  to  the  continuance  of  the  perfections,  glory,  government  and  praise 
of  God;  one  to  the  happiness  of  the  righteous  ;  and  two  to  future  punish- 
ment. Plain  men  can  understand  such  facts.  (  Stuart's  Essays  on  Fut. 
Pun.,  p.  36.)  Hahn's  edition  of  the  Greek  Testament  contains  six  other 
instances  of  the  word,  making  no  change  in  the  state  of  the  case. 


EVASIONS  OF  SCRIPTUEE.  83 

This  is  but  a  beginning.  Every  tronblesome  phrase 
and  passage  is  dispatched  in  the  same  summary  way. 
To  "  perish,"  "  consume,"  "  be  destroyed,"  is  simply 
"  to  fail,  sink,  be  overcome,  be  driven  away,  be  disap- 
pointed, be  slain  in  battle  "  (  p.  66  ).  "  Shall  be  more 
tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment," means  that  it  ivas  more  tolerable  ages  ago  (  p. 
91 ).  "  Shall  not  see  life,"  signifies  the  present  conse- 
quence of  unbelief,  is  not  now  in  a  state  of  life  (  p. 
160).  "  To  sleep  in  the*dust  of  the  earth,"  denotes 
"  a  state  of  natural  indolence  and  sloth  "  (  p.  75  )  ; 
"  coming  forth  from  the  graves,"  denotes  "  a  change  in 
the  temporal  affairs  of  men,"  but  never  a  resurrection 
to  immortality ;  and  when  accompanying  the  state- 
ment that  the  good  shall  come  forth  "  to  the  resurrec- 
tion of  life,"  and  they  that  have  done  evil  "  to  the 
resurrection  of  damnation,"  it  ^^  furnishes  proof  ^^  that 
this  resurrection  is  not  "  the  immortal  resurrection ! !" 
(p.  162).  The  "kingdom  of  heaven"  from  which 
the  wicked  are  excluded,  is  noi  heaven — it  is  the  reign 
of  the  gospel  in  this  world  (p.  88 )  ;  and  in  all  cases 
where  similar  statements  are  made,  it  ceases  to  be  in 
the  future  world.  To  "  have  an  hundred  fold  now  in 
this  time,  and  in  the  world  to  come  eternal  life,"  is  to 
have  an  hundred  fold  "  under  the  law,"  and  "  in  the 
age  of  the  gospel "  to  have  abundant  peace  of  mind 
and  greater  outward  peace  than  ever  before "  ( p. 
142).  To  "see  the  Lord,"  in  the  stern  declara- 
tion "  without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord," 
refers  only  "  to  a  state  of  spiritual  honor  and  enjoyment 
in  the  present  life  "  (  p.  208).  "  The  angels  who  kept 
not  their  first  estate,  reserved   in  everlasting  chains 


84  LECTURES  ON  UNIVEESALISM. 

under  darkness  unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day," 
are  "  ministers  who  kept  not  their  proper  offices,  who 
were  doomed  to  darkness  of  mind,"  and  who  suifered 
at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (  p.  218).  "Ever- 
lasting destruction  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and 
from  the  glory  of  his  power,"  denotes  "  the  banishment 
of  the  Jews  from  their  own  land  (p.  192).  "The 
heavens  and  the  earth  fleeing  away  before  the  face  of 
Him"  which  sat  upon  the  throne,  is  the  passing  away 
of  the  Jewish  religion  (  p.  24^).  "  Hell "  is  the  grave, 
the  valley  of  Hinnom  (p.  82  ),  and  sometimes  " a  low, 
depressed,  debased  situation "  (p.  96).  "The  broad 
way  that  leads  to  death,"  is  simply  the  path  of  folly 
(p.  85).  "Outer  darkness"  with  "weeping  and 
gnashing  of  teeth,"  so  often  declared  to  be  the  portion 
of  evil-doers,  is  "a  state  of  ignorance  and  uubclief" 
of  the  gospel  (  p.  88  ).  "  Many  will  seek  to  enter  in  " 
at  the  strait  gate,  "  and  shall  not  be  able,"  was  fulfilled 
when  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  and  the  Jews  ceased  to 
enjoy  gospel  privileges  (p.  192).  "Ye  shall  die  in 
your  sins," — shall  "  as  a  nation  be  dissolved  for  the  sin 
of  rejecting  the  Messiah  "  (  p.  164  ).  "  What  must  I 
do  to  be  saved  ?" — what  must  I  do  "  to  become  one  of 
your  number  ?"  (  p.  174  ) .  "  The  unrighteous  shall  not 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,"  means,  substantially,  that 
unrighteousness  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God 
(p.  182  ).  The  " fearful  thing,  to  fall  into  the  hands 
of  the  living  God,"  was  to  suffer  at  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  (p.  206).  The  proposition,  "It  is  ap- 
pointed unto  men  once  to  die,  and  after  this  the  judg- 
ment," by  a  species  of  legerdemain  peculiar  to 
Universalism,  is  transmuted  thus:   It  is     appointed 


EVASIONS   OP    SCRIPTURE.  85 

unto  the  Jewish  high  priests  every  year  to  offer  a 
bloody  sacrifice,  after  which  they  and  the  people  obtained 
ceremonial  justification  (p.  201  —  2).*  Christ's  sol- 
emn description  of  the  last  judgment  "  when  the  Son 
of  Man  shall  come  in  his  glory  and  all  the  holy  angels 
with  him,  and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  na- 
tions," is  "  a  parable  "  (  p.  170  ) ;  Judas,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  a  genuine  penitent  (p.  134  ) ;  and  it  was  not 
Judas,  but  his  successor,  who  was  to  "  go  to  his  own 
place  "  (  p.  170  ). 

There  is  one  grand  resort  when  all  else  fails,  and 
when  the  language  of  Scripture  becomes  too  appal- 
ling to  be  trifled  with ;  and  that  is  to  refer  it  to  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem.  No  matter  how  incongru- 
ous— no  matter  for  the  Savior's  own  explanation  to 
the  contrary — this  is  the  great  common  sewer  of 
Universalist  interpretation.     "  The  last  day  "  at  which 


*  This  marvellous  piece  of  interpretation,  it  seems,  was  invented  by 
Hosea  Ballou,  Sen.,  Avhen  he  had  been  preaching  twenty-seven  years, 
and  it  made  him,  as  we  may  well  suppose  it  would,  "exceeding  glad." 
It  is  adopted  by  Cobb  (  Compend,  p.  136  ),  by  Williamson  ( Exposit., 
p.  119  ),  and  quite  extensively  by  the  denomination. 

Hosea  Ballou  has  evidently  a  natural  genius  for  such  feats.  Thus  he 
takes  the  passage,  Mai.  4:  1,  "For  behold  the  day  cometh  that  shall 
bum  as  an  oven ;  and  all  the  proud,  yea,  all  that  do  wickedly  shall  be 
stubble ;  and  the  day  that  cometh  shall  burn  them  up,  saith  the  Lord  of 
hosts,  that  it  shall  leave  them  neither  root  nor  branch,"  and,  after  a  series 
of  passes  upon  it,  he  actually  pronounces  "  the  time  meaning  of  the  text " 
to  be  that  all  the  proud,  all  they  that  do  wickedly  "  shall  be  translated 
into  the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son."  Lect.  Serm.,  p.  96.  I  will  let 
the  reader  guess  the  process. 

Whittemore  has  not  attained  such  illumination ;  he  contents  himself 
with  his  usual  pastime  of  destroying  the  Jews  :  "  That  the  destruction 
of  the  Jews  is  set  forth  under  the  figure  of  burning,  is  too  palpably  true 
to  need  confirmation."    Plain  Guide,  p.  77. 


86  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

Christ's  word  should  judge  his  rejectors,  is  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  (p.  168).  When  the  guest 
without  the  wedding  garment  was  to  be  bound  hand 
and  foot,  and  cast  into  outer  darkness  where  is  weeping 
and  gnashing  of  teeth,  it  is  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem (  p.  117  ).  Wlien  the  wicked  at  the  end  of  the 
world  are  to  be  gathered  by  Christ's  angels  and  cast 
into  the  furnace  of  fire,  that  is  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem.  The  punishment  of  the  unfaithful  servant 
whom  his  Lord  appointed  to  a  portion  with  the  hypo- 
crites— that  of  the  servant  who  hid  his  Lord's  money 
— are  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  "  The  damnation 
of  hell,"  is  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ( p.  118  ). 
The  exclusion  of  the  foolish  virgins,  is  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  (  p.  122  ) ;  and  the  watching  of  the  wise 
was  their  watching  for  the  Roman  armies  ( p.  168  ). 
"  The  wrath  to  come,"  is  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
(  p.  78  ).  "  Wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath  and  reve- 
lation of  the  righteous  judgment  of  God,  who  will 
render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds,"  is  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  ( p.  178).  "Jesus  Christ 
revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty  angels  in 
flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not 
God  and  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  and  from  the  glory  of 
his  power  " — is  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (  p.  189). 
The  "  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indig- 
nation which  shall  devour  the  adversaries,"  is  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem  (  p.  205  ).  The  second  death, 
and  the  being  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire,  took  place  at 
the   destruction   of    Jerusalem  (p.  222 ).     The  dead, 


EVASIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  87 

small  and  great,  summoned  before  Him  that  sat  on  the 
throne,  experienced  this  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem. The  Son  of  Man  sitting  on  his  throne,  gathering 
all  nations  before  him,  se^vering  them  and  pronouncing 
their  doom,  while  these  "  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal" — took 
place  at  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (  p.  240  ).  The 
"  holy  angels "  who  should  gather  all  nations  before 
the  Savior,  are  Roman  armies  ( p.  104  ) ; — heathen  sol- 
diers, the  armies  that  Christ  termed  "  the  abomination 
of  desolation,"  converted  by  Mr.  "Whittemore  into 
"  holy  angels !" 

Almost  the  crowning  absurdity  of  all,  is  the  state- 
ment, put  forth  not  only  by  this  writer,  but  in  some 
form  by  all  the  writers  of  the  system,  that  the  inflictions 
of  these  fearful  threatenings  are  but  the  "  wise,  neces- 
saiy,  salutary  ministrations  of  a  father's  kindness," 
expressions  of  "  tenderness  and  love  "  towards  those 
on  whom  they  are  inflicted.  Think  of  the  combination, 
thus :  "0  cursed  children,  which  have  forsaken  the 
right  way,  I  will  pour  out  my  fury  upon  you,  I  will 
take  vengeance  in  flaming  fire  on  you.  Ye  serpents, 
ye  generation  of  vipers  !  how  can  ye  escape  the  damna- 
tion of  hell  ?  I  will  render  to  you  indignation  and 
wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,  with  everlasting  des- 
truction from  my  presence  and  the  glory  of  my  power ; 
I  will  cast  you  into  the  lake  of  fire,  and  the  smoke  of 
your  torment  shall  ascend  up  forever  and  ever ;  and 
you  shall  never  have  forgiveness ; — and  I  will  do  all  this 
unto  you,  0  children  of  wrath,  as  an  expression  of  a 
father's  tenderness  and  love  for  you." — Can  anything 
be  more  horribly  absurd  ?  Does  it  not  make  one  shud- 
der to  hear  such  delirious  assertions  ? 


88  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVEESALISM. 

In  connexion  with  all  this  weakness  is  found  a  course 
of  singular  unfairness  and  inconsistency,  rising  from 
petty  quibbles  and  equivocations  up  to  what  it  is  hard 
to  believe  less  than  downright  dishonesty.  Such  paltry 
evasions  as  this  are  common :  When  Christ  solemnly 
warns  his  disciples  not  to  fear  those  "  who  kill  [actu- 
ally kill]  the  body,"  but  to  "  fear  him  which  is  able  to 
destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell,"  Mr.  Whittemore 
asks,  "  Does  it  say  God  will  destroy  both  soul  and  body 
in  hell  ?  No ;  it  says  he  is  able  to  do  so," — and  he  de- 
nies not  only  that  God  will  do  it,  but  even  that  there 
was  any  danger  of  his  doing  it  (p.  92).  That  is,  he 
makes  Christ  solemnly  "  forewarn  "  them,  not  in  the 
least  to  fear  those  who  could  and  would  deprive  them 
of  life  itself,  but  to  fear  him  who  would  in  no  conceiv- 
able circumstances  harm  them — to  fear  him  of  whom 
there  was  nothing  to  fear — yea,  to  fear  that  he  would, 
"  after  he  had  killed.,^''  (for  this  is  the  phrase  of  Luke) 
destroy  soul  and  body  in  a  place,  which,  according  to 
Mr.  Whittemore,  has  no.  existence  !  One  form  of 
quibbling,  is  to  deny  the  future-state  reference  of  cer- 
tain statements,  because  the  phraseology  contains,  as 
it  must,  idioms  of  this  world.  When  ceaseless  suffer- 
ing is  described,  in  the  language  of  common  life,  as 
the  ha^dng  no  rest  "  day  nor  night,"  Whittemore  and 
his  compeers  insist  upon  it  that  this  phrase  proves  their 
suffering  to  be  in  this  world,  where  the  change  of  day 
and  night  takes  place ;  though  the  last  words  preceding 
are,  "  the  smoke  of  their  torment  ascendeth  up  forever 
and  ever"  (p.  237).  So  in  Christ's  tale  of  the  rich 
man  and  Lazarus,  though  we  are  distinctly  informed 
that  each  had  died,  and  the  one   was  in  Abraham's 


EVASIONS   OF    SCRIPTURE.  89 

bosom,  the  other  in  hell,  being  in  torments,  it  is  con- 
tended that  this  could  not  be  in  the  other  world  because 
the'parties  have  "  bodies,  eyes,  ears,  fingers ;  they  con- 
verse, they  reason,  they  see  each  other ;" — a  principle 
on  which  we  ought  to  deny  the  spiritual  nature  of  God 
himself,  because  he  speaks,  in  the  language  of  men,  of 
his  eye,  ear,  finger,  hand  and  arm — reasons,  converses 
and  sees.  In  one  part  of  his  volume  we  find  him  fram- 
ing half-a-dozen  arguments  by  quoting  the  promise, 
"  in  thee  and  thy  seed  shall  all  nations  of  the  earth  be 
blessed,"  and  insisting  that  "  all  nations  "  must  mean 
every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam  in  all  lands  and 
times ;  and  then,  in  the  gathering  of  all  nations  before 
the  Son  of  Man,  making  "  all  nations  "  comprise  the 
comparative  handful  who  lived  at  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  and  were  implicated  in  that  event. 

A  favorite  device  of  a  paltry  kind,  is  to  inquire  why 
a  statement  found  in  one  gospel  is  not  in  all  the  gospels ; 
when  one  word  is  employed,  why  not  some  other ;  when 
a  term  is  used  a  certain  number  of  times,  and  that 
perhaps  a  large  number,  why  not  still  more  abundant. 
Thus,  why  did  not  Christ  say  "  destroy  spirit  and  body," 
rather  than  soul  and  body  (p.  95)  ;  and  Mr,  Whitte- 
more  distinctly  endeavors  to  make  the  impression, 
which  is  false*  that  the  word  "  soul "  Q^v-)(ff)  does 
not,  in  the  New  Testament,  denote  the  immortal  spirit. 
And  when  Christ  says  "  they  which  shall  be  accounted 
worthy  to  obtain  that  world  and  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead  .  .  .  shall  be  equal  unto  the  angels," — because 
the  phrase  "  accounted  worthy,"  etc.,  is  found  in  Luke 


*  See  Robinson's  Lex.,  Art.  "  ■>livxV' 


90  LECTUEES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

and  not  in  Matthew  and  Mark,  he  actually  argues  that 
"  the  weight  is  as  two  to  one  against  the  importance  of 
the  words"  (p.  155).  And  when  the  word  Gehenna, 
"  hell,"  a  word  employed  in  the  Savior's  time  to  denote 
the  place  of  future  punishment,  is  found  as  many  as 
twelve  times  in  the  New  Testament,  he  inquires  if  it  is 
"  not  a  little  singular  "  that  it  occurs  no  more  (p.  81). 
He  argues  that  there  is  no  future  retribution,  because, 
as  he  says,  when  the  resurrection  is  mentioned,  retribu- 
tion is  not  also  mentioned  in  the  same  passage ;  and 
when  retribution,  then  not  the  resurrection  ; — and 
when  we  bring  passages  (like  John  5  :  28,  29  ;  Heb. 
6  :  2)  where  resurrection  and  retribution  are  joined  in 
the  most  solemn  manner,  then  we  are  met  with  the 
astounding  assertion  that  the  very  statement,  "  they 
that  are  in  their  graves  shall  come  forth  "  to  the  resur- 
rection of  life  and  the  resurrection  of  damnation, 
"  furnishes  proof  "  that  the  immortal  resurrection  was 
not  intended ! !    (  p.  162. ) 

Recklessness  of  means  is  characteristic.  Mr.  Whit- 
temore  is  willing  to  convey  the  impression  that  "  soul " 
does  not  mean  the  immortal  spirit  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  that  the  term  Gehenna  ( hell )  was  not  ap- 
plied by  the  Jews  in  the  time  of  Christ  to  denote  the 
place  of  future  punishment  (pp.  93,94).  He  boldly 
declares  that  "  all  writers  agree  "  to  one  of  his  asser- 
tions, ( p.  82, )  when  some  of  the  most  learned  men, 
like  Dr.  Robinson,  deny  that  there  is  any  evidence  for 
the  assertion,*     Now  he   confirms   an   interpretation 


*  That  the  valley  of  Hinnom  became  a  place  of  liunishment,  where 
criminals  were  caused  to  suffer  death  by  burning.  Fires  to  devour  offiil 
were  kindled  there  in  the  time  of  King  Josiah ;  and  modem  -vvTiters,  like 


EVASIONS   OF    SCRIPTURE.  91 

with,  "  SO  say  the  best  commentators  "  ( p.  25, ) ;  when 
as  matter  of  fact  the  reader  will  not  be  able  to  find  one 
who  "  so  says." 

Every  kind  of  device  is  unscrupulously  adopted  to 
bring  some  seeming  support  of  these  evasions.  Uni- 
versalist  and  Unitarian  authorities  are  mixed  up  with 
evangelical  ones,  the  latter  mostly  of  a  by -gone  age 
and  scholarship.  Every  species  of  aid  is  eagerly  in- 
voked, down  to  the  eccentric  translation  of  Wakefield, 
and  the  Douay  version  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  One  fre- 
quent resort  is  to  catch  at  whatever  peculiar  view 
may  be  found  with  individuals  of  the  immense  number 
of  evangelical  expositors,  and  somewhat  triumphantly 
to  exhibit  it  either  as  an  admission  of  orthodoxy  or  as 
a  justification  of  the  view  ;  not  a  little  as  though  the 
Universalist  preacher  should  frame  his  code  of  morals 
by  looking  to  Jacob  for  falsehood,  to  David  for  adul- 
tery, to  Paul  and  Barnabas  for  contention,  and  to 
Peter  for  cursing  and  swearing,  with  an  occasional 
embellishment  from  the  lives  of  Jezebel  and  Jero- 
boam. 

But  there  are  graver  doings  than  these.  To  break 
the  force  of  the  exclusive  promises  of  the  scriptures,  as 


Stuart,  have  supposed,  without  proof,  they  were  kept  burning  in  the 
time  of  Clirist ;  but,  to  the  contrary,  see  Robinson's  Lex.,  Art.  "  jsevva  ;" 
also  Royce  on  Universalism,  pp.  23,  24,  quoted  by  Rev.  N.  D.  George, 
p.  242,  etc.  The  latter  writer  has  shown  at  lai-ge  the  gharing  mis-state- 
ments and  deceptiye  concealments  of  TJniversalists  in  regard  to  this  mat- 
ter, continued  to  the  present  day.  Even  Whittemorc  is  constrained  to 
admit  (  p.  43,)  that  the  Jews  of  Christ's  time  "are  well  kno-mi  to  have 
believed  in  endless  punishment ;"  while  there  is  evidence  aside  from  the 
Bible,  that  "Gehenna"  was  the  special  designation  of  that  place  of 
punishment. 


92  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

already  mentioned,  the  unhappy  man  in  his  straits 
avers  that  the  phrase  "  eternal  life  is  not  used  by  the 
sacred  writers  to  signify  endless  blessedness  beyond 
the  grave,"  but  peace  in  this  world  ;  and  yet  in  the 
same  volume  deliberately  advances  three  several  argu- 
ments, founded  solely  on  the  use  of  this  phrase,  to 
prove  the  endless  blessedness  of  all  men  beyond  the 
grave.*  At  one  time  two  passages  of  John's  Revela- 
tion, regarding  the  lake  of  fire,  the  second  death  and 
the  punishment  of  liars  and  other  wicked  men,  are 
referred  to  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ;  in  another 
part  of  the  same  volume,  a  verse  is  taken  out  of  the 
same  description,  midway  between  these  two,  and  four 
verses  from  each,  to  prove  the  blessedness  of  all  men  in 
heaven. f  In  one  place  when  his  argviment  requires  it, 
he  distinctly  asserts  that  Christ  will  "  come  down " 
and  "  visit  the  earth  again  bodily  at  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead ;"  in  all  other  portions  of  his  book,  as  his 
necessities  require,  he  refuses  to  recognize  any  such 
"  coming  of  Christ  —  it  "  took  place  during  the  apos- 
tolic age. "J    When  a  man  does  such  things,  can  he  do 


*  P.  140,  and  25,  46,  52. 

t  Pp.  223.  227,  243,  and  p.  53.  Allusion  has  been  made  to  these 
cases,  and  otliers  like  them,  elsewhere ;  but  I  willingly,  by  repeated  ref- 
erence, call  distinct  attention  to  these  characteristic  procedures  of  Uni- 
versalism.  Let  the  honest  adherents  of  the  system  sec  what  "  Guides  " 
they  follow. 

X  P.  36.  "  He  had  ascended  into  the  heavens  bodily ;  the  heavens 
would  contain  him  till  the  times  of  the  restitution ;  and  then  he  would 
bodily  visit  the  earth  again.  Now  when  shall  he  visit  the  earth  again 
bodily?  Answer,  At  the  resuiTCCtion  of  the  dead."  On  the  other  hand, 
see  pp.  124,  125,  185,  186, 189  — 192.  "  The  coming  of  the  Lord  took 
place,  as  we  have  said,  during  the  apostolic  age."  "  The  coming  of  the 
Son  of  Man  with  his  angels,  took  place  during  the  natural  lives  of  some 
of  the  generation  then  on  earth."    P.  189. 


EVASIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  93 

it  in  ignorance  ?     And  can  he  be  an  honest  teacher  of 
God's  truth  ? 

Such  is  the  course  of  treatment  that  fills  two  hun- 
dred pages  with  its  worryings  of  the  word  of  God.  I 
have  not  tried  to  answer  it.  I  have  only  set  it  naked 
before  you.  Fairly  before  you,  I  am  willing  to  leave 
them  both  —  the  majestic,  clear,  and  awful  voice  of 
God,  declaring  the  eternal  doom  of  the  unrepentant 
sinner — and  these  poor  pitiful  perversions,  and  con- 
temptible evasions. 

My  hearers,  you  have  heard  for  yourselves  the  state- 
ments of  God's  own  mouth.  You  can  judge  whether 
they  have  any  meaning.  If  they  do  not  affirm  the 
most  fearful  vengeance  of  God  —  if  they  do  not  de- 
clare the  eternal  punishment  of  the  wicked,  how,  let 
me  appeal  to  yourselves,  how  can  language  be  so  fram- 
ed as  to  declare  it  ?  Can  you  invent  more  intense  or 
varied  phraseology  ?  If  this  language  can  be  broken 
down,  could  not  any  forms  into  which  language  can  be 
wrought,  be  also  set  aside  ?  Nay,  do  not  the  first  prin- 
ciples which  Universalism  lays  down,  necessitate  the 
crushing  out  of  future  punishment  from  the  word  of 
God,  at  all  hazards  ?  As  specimens  of  interpretation, 
are  not  these  constructions  which  I  have  quoted,  equal- 
ly despicable  in  themselves,  and  insulting  to  the  word 
of  God  ?  Do  they  not  ascribe  to  God  a  recklessness 
and  even  swaggering  of  speech,  such  as  is  to  be  found 
only  among  the  lowest  class  of  men — the  ungodly  and 
profane  ?  And  must  not  the  hope  of  eternal  life, 
which  rests  only  on  the  expectation  of  finding  the 
whole  Bible  a  tissue  of  inflated  exaggerations,   and 


94  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

gross  extravagances  of  speech,  sporting  with  the  fears 
of  the  great  mass  of  men  in  all  ages, —  of  finding  a  lie 
in  the  mouth  of  God,  and  the  truth  in  the  mouth  of 
such  interpreters  as  these  —  must  it  not  be  the  frailest 
of  all  broken  reeds,  perishing  like  the  spider's  web  at 
the  giving  up  of  the  ghost  ! 

I  have  read  of  one  who  hung  down  a  precipice,  sus- 
tained'by  a  single  strand  of  a  parting  cord — of  one  cast 
forth  in  mid-ocean  on  a  solitary  plank  —  and  of  one 
who  was  seen  floating  in  a  slender  skiff  on  the  brink  of 
Niagara,  and  straining  every  sinew  till,  it  was  ready  to 
snap,  in  the  struggle  against  that  fearful  current ;  — 
and  I  think  their  prospects  cheering,  and  hopeful  even, 
beside  his  whose  only  hope  of  heaven  rests  on  turning 
back  the  dreadful  tide  of  eternal  wrath  that  heaves, 
and  foams,  and  dashes,  through  the  word  of  the  living 
God.  "  The  water  shall  overflow  their  hiding-place — 
their  covenant  with  death  shall  be  disannulled,  and 
their  asi'reement  with  hell  shall  not  stand." 


LECTURE  FOURTH. 

THE  UNIVEKSALIST  ARGUMENT,  AFFIRMATIVE. 
SCRIPTURE  CITATIONS. 

Matthew  IV  :  5,  6,  7.  Then  tlie  devil  taketh  him  up  into  the  holy  city, 
and  setteth  him  on  a  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  saith  unto  him,  If 
thou  be  the  Son  of  God,  cast  thyself  down ;  for  it  is  ^\Titten,  He  shall 
give  his  angels  charge  concerning  thee ;  and  in  their  hands  they  shall 
bear  thee  up,  lest  at  any  time  thou  dash  thy  foot  againt  a  stone.  Jesus 
said  unto  him,  It  is  written  again,  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy 
God. 

The  arcli-enemj  of  souls  could  not  only  deny,  for 
the  ruin  of  our  great  ancestor,  the  plainest  teachings 
of  God  ;  he  even  quoted  Scripture  to  our  Savior,  to  cut 
off  the  only  hope  of  a  ruined  race. 

.  In  the  preceding  discourse,  I  exposed  the  attempts 
of  Universalists  to  break  down  those  Scriptures  which 
speak  of  future  punishment — a  rock  against  which  they 
ceaselessly  beat,  and  fall  in  spray.  I  quoted,  without 
comment,  a  portion  of  that  appalling  array  of  Scrip- 
ture testimony  ;  I  showed  you,  from  standard  Univer- 
salist  writers,  the  avowed  determination  to  destroy  all 
such  testimony ;  and  gave  you  specimens,  quoting  vol- 
ume and  page,  of  the  absurd  and  sometimes  dishonest 
methods  in  which  that  determination  is  carried  out.  I 
now  proceed  to  consider, 

II.  The  attempt  to  bring  Scripture  proof  for  the 
doctrine  of  Universal  Salvation. 


PERVERSIONS   OP  SCRIPTURE.  96 

The  passages  of  Scripture  adduced  by  Universalists 
to  sustain  their  system  are  usually  very  \fcw  indeed. 
Sometimes  they  adopt  a  more  ambitious  course  ;  and 
then  the  texts  are  mostly  of  the  following  kinds  : 
First,  certain  passages  which  declare  God's  love,  mercy, 
or  parental  goodness,  only,  and  say  not  a  word  on  the 
question  at  issue  ;  passages,  therefore,  utterly  irrelevant, 
but  which  they  attempt  to  force  into  their  service  by 
an  inference  ; — being  a  merciful  God,  say  they,  he  will 
not  punish  forever.  Secondly,  certain  passages  which 
speak  of  the  greatness  of  Christ's  work,  or  the  suiR- 
ciency  of  his  atonement,  but  which  have  no  bearing  on 
the  question  whether  all  the  individuals  of  the  human 
race  will  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  be  saved  by  it ; 
passages,  moreover,  which  they  are  wholly  precluded 
from  using,  because  they  distinctly  deny  that  Christ 
came  to  save  men  from  any  other  evils  than  those  of 
the  present  life.  Thirdly,  certain  passages  which  speak 
of  the  spread  of  the  gospel  through  the  earth.  Fourthly, 
certain  passages  which  teach  the  universal  dominion  of 
God  and  Christ  over  willing  subjects  and  conquered 
rebels ;  and  which  they  assume,  against  the  express 
statements  of  Scripture,  to  be  only  over  willing  sub- 
jects. Fifthly,  a  few  passages  descriptive  of  the  final 
state  and  blessedness  of  the  righteous,  which  they  vio- 
lently wrench  from  their  connexion  and  apply  to  all 
men. 

There  may  be  a  few  passages  not  covered  by  this 
description ;  but  it  comprises  the  great  mass  of  their 
Scripture  references,  at  their  utmost  extent.  Most  of 
them  have  palpably  no  reference  to  final  happiness  in 
heaven,  and   scarcely  a  dozen  have  any  appearance  of 


PEEVERSIONS   OP  SCRIPTURE.  97 

it.  Ill  truth,  Mr.  Cobb,  Mr.  "Williamson  and  Mr. 
Moore,  cautiously  abstain  from  the  attempt  to  adduce 
more  than  sis  or  eight  passages  of  scripture  to  this 
point,  and  some  of  these  wide  of  the  mark.  They 
prefer  to  rest  the  case  chiefly  on  general  reasoning, — 
reasonings  of  their  own.  This,  indeed,  is  the  more 
ordinary  range  of  the  Universalist  argument. 

Mr.  Whittemore,  however,  is  more  ambitious,  if  not 
more  wise  ;  and  he  attempts  to  manufacture  a  "  hun- 
dred arguments  "  from  the  scriptures,  in  favor  of  the 
final  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men.  These  argu- 
ments, after  having  been  some  years  in  circulation, 
were  retouched  by  their  author  to  his  satisfaction,  and 
incorporated  in  the  stereotype  edition  of  his  Plain 
Guide.  To  show  you  how  desperate  and  forlorn  is 
this  most  ambitious  of  attempts  to  frame  "  scripture 
arguments,"  I  will  follow  him  somewhat  closely 
through  *  And  I  think  you  will  observe  as  I  proceed, 
that  the  wrenching  process  is  quite  as  violent  in  its 
endeavors  to  force  the  final  happiness  of  all  men  into 
these  passages,  as  in  its  labor  to  expel  the  doctrine  of 
future  punishment  from  the  class  we  have  already  con- 
sidered. 

The  chapter  is  entitled  : 

^^What  evidences  do  Universalists  adduce  from  the 
scriptures  in  support  of  their  belief  in  the  eventual 
holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men  ?  " 

"  Evidence  from  the  Scriptures,"  is  the  word  ;  so  let 


*  Tliis  coiirse  will  at  the  same  time  meet  the  Scripture  quotations  of 
the  other  writers,  which  are  all  included  in  Mr.  Whittemore's  greater 
display. 

7 


98  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

it  be.  Not  inferences,  not  declamations  about  what 
God  nwst  do,  because  be  is  so  good  and  wise  —  and  so 
on  ;  but  what  he  says  he  will  do — not  what  Mr.  Whit- 
temore  says,  but  what  God  says.  See,  then,  after  the 
great  champion  has  ransacked  the  Bible,  and  remod- 
elled and  stereotyped  his  argument,  let  us  see  what  he 
brings  us. 

Argument  No.  1  contains  this  text  of  scripture, 
"  He  hath  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men,  for  to 
dwell  on  the  face  of  all  the  earth."  Mr.  Whittemore 
has  indeed  added  half  a  page  of  Universalist  talk  about 
God's  "  benevolence,"  but  we  are  listening  for  scrip- 
ture and  not  Whittemore,  and  here  is  the  solitary 
scripture.  And  what  does  it  teach  ?  Simply  the  com- 
mon origin  of  the  whole  human  family.  Of  their  des- 
tiny here  or  hereafter,  not  a  word,  not  a  shadow  of  an 
implication.     So  vanishes  number  one. 

Number  2  is  like  unto  it.  "  Have  we  not  all  one 
Father  ?  Hath  not  one  God  created  us  ?"  Certainly  : 
a  most  important  truth ;  but  having  no  more  reference 
to  final  salvation,  than  to  infant  baptism. 

Number  3.  "  Behold  all  souls  are  mine,  saith  the 
Lord  ;  as  the  soul  of  the  father  so  also  the  soul  of  the 
son  is  mine."  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  ful- 
ness thereof ;  the  world  and  they  that  dwell  therein." 
That  is  to  say,  God  is  the  owner  of  all  men  and  all 
things :  how  he  will  dispose  of  them,  we  learn  else- 
where— those  who  refuse  to  ackiiowledge  his  authority, 
he  will  punish. 

Number  4.  "  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  the 
heathen  for  thine  inheritance  and  -the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth   for   thy  possession"  (Ps.  2:8. )     "The 


PERVERSIONS   OF  SCRIPTURE.  99 

Father  loveth  the  Son  and  hath  given  all  things  into 
his  hand  "  ( John  3  :  35  ).  The  first  of  these  passages 
declares  the  spread  of  Christ's  gospel  and  power  through 
this  earth  ;  the  very  next  verse  asserting  that  his  ene- 
mies he  will  break  ivith  a  rod  of  iron,  and  dash  them 
in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel," — averse  which  Mr.  W. 
discreetly  omits  to  quote.  The  other  verse,  as  the  sen- 
tence ])efore  it  shows,  simply  declares  the  commitment 
of  all  gifts  and  grace  into  Christ's  hands ;  or  the  in- 
vestment of  him  with  all  qualifications  and  authority 
for  the  fulfilment  of  his  mission,  as  when  he  says,  "  All 
power  is  given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  earth."  This 
verse  also  stands  in  a  connexion  most  unfortunate  for 
Universalism.  The  next  verse  reads  thus :  "  He  that 
believeth  on  the  Son  hath  everlasting  life  ;  and  he  tliat 
believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath 
of  God  abide th  on  him." 

Number  5.  "  Thou  hast  given  him  power  over  all 
flesh,  that  he  should  give  eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou 
hast  given  him."  Precisely  so :  he  will  give  eternal 
life  to  those  very  persons  whom  the  Father  hath  given 
him ;  and  to  no  more. 

Number  6.  "  All  that  the  Father  hath  given  me 
shall  come  to  me,  and  him  that  cometh  to  me,  I  will 
in  no  wise  cast  out."  A  precious  assurance  indeed,  to 
"  those  ivho  come  "  unto  Christ ;  "  he  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out."  But  alas  for  the  multitude  that  will  not 
come. 

Now,  as  the  passages  separately  contain  no  intima- 
tion of  Universal  salvation,  the  author  tries  a  little 
legerdemain  upon  them.  Two  of  these  detached  pas- 
sages he  joins  together,  deliberately  perverts  the  first 


100  LECTURES  ON  UNIVEESALISM. 

of  them,  seasons  the  perversion  with  an  untruth,  and 
then  draws  out  Universalism  from  the  mixture. — 
Thus :  "  The  Father  loveth  the  Son,  and  hath  given  all 
things  into  his  hands ;"  "  All  that  the  Father  giveth 
me  shall  come  to  me,  and  him  that  cometh  to  me,  I 
will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  Says  Mr.  W.,  "  '  all  things ' 
here  means  all  intelligent  beings.  So  say  the  best 
commentators."  He  sums  up  thus :  "  All  are  given ; 
all  shall  come  ;  none  shall  be  cast  out."  Now,  all  this 
is  founded  on  the  most  reckless  assumptions.  First, 
the  glaring  and  monstrous  perversion  that  "  all  things  " 
here  means  all  intelligent  beings,  neither  more  nor  less ; 
for  if  it  include  anything  more,  or  if  it  mean  anything 
different,  as  it  unquestionably  does,  such  as  all  power, 
authority,  fulness,  grace,  gifts,  or  blessings,  the  ar- 
gument is  absurd.  Another  gross  sophistry  is  the 
assumption  that  if  ^^  things^'  were  intelligent  beings, 
they  could  be  given  into  the  Savior's  hands  or  sub- 
jected to  his  aiithority,  only  for  the  jDurpose  of  saving 
them; — an  assumption  contradicted  in  the  very  verse 
that  follows — "  He  that  believeth  not  on  the  Son  shall 
not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him." 
Conscious  of  weakness,  Mr.  Whittemore  tries  to 
strengthen  his  position  with  brass :  "  So  say  the  best 
commentators,"  he  avers.  Whereas,  if  you  can  find  a 
solitary  commentator  who  so  says,  you  will  be  more 
successful  than  I  have  been.  Even  a  brother  Univers- 
alist  has  rebuked  him  for  this  perversion  and  untruth.* 


*  Rev.  W.  R.  French,  in  the  Gospel  Banner,  AiTg.  5,  1844,  (  quoted 
by  N.  D.  George,)  writes  thus;  "This  is  a  favorite  text  with  some  to 
prove  our  doctrine.  But  does  it  have  the  least,  the  faintest  reference  to 
if?    Do  not  "  all  things  "  denote  the  power  given  to  Christ,  or  every- 


PERVERSIONS  OP  SCRIPTURE.  101 

I  have  explained  these  passapjes  seriously  as  they 
deserve.  Still  I  ought  to  remind  you  that  for  Mr. 
Whittemore  to  adduce  these  passages  concerning 
Christ's  work  and  eternal  life,  in  proof  of  final  salvation, 
is  in  him  a  trick,  a  double  trick ;  for  he  informs  us 
(  on  p.  140  ),  that  the  phrase  "  eternal  life  "  "  is  not 
used  by  the  sacred  writers  to  signify  endless  blessed- 
ness beyond  the  grave,"  and  (on  pp.  253  and  254) 
that  "  the  evils  from  which  Jesus  came  to  save  men 
are  in  this  world." 

Number  7  contains  a  text  which  is  constantly  heard 
from  the  advocates  of  Universalism :  "  Who  will  have 
all  men  to  be  saved  and  come  unto  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth  ?"  1  Tim.  2:4.  Universalists  insist  upon  it 
that  this  expresses  God's  absolute  determination.  But 
is  it  so  ?  No.  Tlie  very  language  Employed,  refutes 
them.  It  simply  expresses  God's  benevolent  desire, 
not  his  irresistible  will.  The  phrase  "  will  have  "  is, 
in  the  original,  simply  wishes  or  desires,  and  commonly 
so  translated  in  the  New  Testament.  Thus,  Luke  8 : 
20,  "  Thy  mother  and  thy  brethren  stand  without, 
desiring  to  see  thee."  It  is  sometimes  differently 
translated,  but  with  the  same  meaning;  thus,  Matt. 


thing  necessary  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  work  ?  Does  not  the 
context  require  this  explanation  ?  And  yet  a  certain  book  (  Guide, 
p.  25, )  has  it  that '  all  things  '  here  means  all  intelligent  beings.  So  say 
the  best  commentators.'  These  best  commentators  are  beyond  our 
knowledge ;  yet  enough  are  at  hand  to  bear  a  contrary  testimony." — 
And  Mr.  French  cites  against  it,  "  Scott,  Clarke,  Campbell,  Bloomfield, 
Livermore,  Tholuck;"  Mr.  George  adds,  "Heniy,  Benson,  Wesley." 
To  these  may  be  added,  Calvin,  Barnes,  Rosenmuller,  Kuinoel,  Olshau- 
sen,  De  Wette,  and  Jacobus.  Such  is  the  honesty  of  a  Universalist 
champion. 


102  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERBALISM. 

15  :  28,  "  0  woman,  great  is  thy  faith,  be  it  unto  thee 
even  as  thou  wilt,^^  i.  e.  desirest.  Every  person  who 
has  the  sHghtest  knowledge  of  the  Greek  language, 
knows  that  here  the  words  of  the  original  *  would  be 
exactly  given  thus :  "  Who  wishes  all  men  to  be  saved." 
The  text  expresses,  therefore,  God's  benevolent  desire 
or  disposition,  as  when  he  says,  "  0  that  thou  hadst 
hearkened  unto  my  commandments  ;"  and  when  Christ 
wept  over  Jerusalem,  and  said,  "  How  often  would  I 
[willed,  or  desired — for  it  is  the  same  word  as  before] 
have  gathered  yoxir  children  together,  and  ye  luoidd 
not.  Behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate." 
To  assert,  therefore,  that  the  text  before  us  declares 
God's  determination,  or  irresistible  will,  is  doing  open 
violence  to  the  words  which  Paul  wrote.  But  God's 
merciful  disposition,  his  desire  that  all  men  might  be 
saved,  is  wonderfully  displayed  in  the  whole  plan  of 
redemption,  and  the  invitations  of  the  gospel ;  yet 
multitudes  clearly  do  not  come  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth, —  and  reject  his  salvation.  "  Ye  will  not  come 
unto  me,"  said  Christ,  "  that  ye  might  have  life."f 

Arguments  No.  8,  9,  10,  11,  have  no  bearing  what- 
ever on  the  question  of  final  salvation,  but  refer  to  the 
general  theological  doctrine  that  God's  will,  or  settled 
determination,  is  to  be  accomplished.  The  Scriptures 
quoted  are  these :  in  Np.  8,  "  thy  will  be  done  ;"  "  I 
exhort  therefore  that  first  of  all,  supplications,  prayers, 
intercessions,  and  giving  of  thanks  be  made  for  all 
men."     No.  9,  "  My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  him  that 


*  The  words  are,  -d-eTiei  au^//vai, 

1 1  waive  the  questions,  whether  "  all  men  "  here  means  all  individuals, 
or  all  classes  of  men ;  and  whether  "  saved  "  here  refers  to  final  salvation. 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  103 

sent  me,  and  to  finish  his  work."  "  Lo  I  come  to  do 
thy  will,  0  God."  No.  10 :  "  He  doeth  according  to 
his  will  in  the  army  of  heaven  and  among  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  earth ;  and  none  can  stay  his  hand  or  say 
unto  him  what  doest  thoK  ?"  No.  11 :  "  He  is  in  one 
mind,  and  who  can  turn  him  ?" 

Now,  none  of  iis  doubts  that  God's  determination, 
the  fixed  decisions  of  his  will,  are  surely  to  be  accom- 
plished. The  question  is,  has  God  absolutely  deter- 
mined that  all  men  shall  be  saved  ?  And  these  general 
quotations  about  God's  will  being  accomplished,  have 
no  more  to  do  with  that  question,  than  with  the  return 
of  the  Jews  to  the  Holy  Land.  They  require  no 
comment. 

Number  12  quotes  two  passages,  one  describing  one 
of  God's  attributes,  the  other  the  rule  of  Christian 
intercourse  among  men.  The  first  is  "  God  is  love  ;" 
the  second,  "  love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbor." — 
Mr.  W.,  however,  omits  the  last  three  words,  in  order 
that  the  passage  may  seem  to  be  a  description  of  God's 
dealings ;  and  probably  having  confidence  that  his 
readers  would  never  discover  the  omission.  But  sep- 
arately or  together,  these  passages  do  not  touch  the 
question  of  final  salvation. 

Number  13  contains  this  part  of  a  sentence  (  John 
3  :  16  ),  "  For  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  his 
only  begotten  Son  ;" — here  Mr.  W.  arrests  the  quotation. 
I  will  merely  finish  the  sentence,  and  leave  him  to 
make  the  most  of  it.  "For  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlast- 
ing life." 


104  LECTUEES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

No.  14  contains  an  allusion  to  the  passage,  (Luke  6  : 
35,)  where  our  heavenly  Father  is  spoken  of  as  being 
kind  to  the  unthankful  and  evil;  i.  e.,  as  it  is  gi^en 
more  fully  in  Matt.  5  :  45,  "  he  causcth  his  sun  to  rise 
on  them,  and  sendeth  rain  on  them,"  in  this  life.  No 
shadow  of  reference  to  a  future  life.  All  this,  alas, 
will  then  be  changed. 

No.  15  asserts  that  God  is  wise,  hut  quotes  no  scrip- 
ture except  that  piece  of  a  sentence,  "  love  worketh  no 
ill." 

No,  16  takes  James  3  :  17,  a  verse  that  describes  the 
"  wisdom  from  above"  in  a  pious  man,  culls  out  of  the 
whole  verse,  the  two  phrases,  "  full  of  mercy"  and 
"  without  partiality"  or  ivr angling,  and  applies  them 
to  God ; — and  then  infers  the  doctrine  of  Universal 
Salvation. 

No.  17.  "As  I  live,"  saith  the  Lord  God, "  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked."  Yes,  ^^no pleasure'" 
in  it,  he  says, — -just  as  he  f^ays  again,  "  I  have  no  plea- 
sure in  the  death  of  him  thatdieW — him  that  actually 
dieth.  The  poor  man  dies — but  God  has  no  pleasure 
in  it,  and  the  wail  of  his  word  floats  over  the  gulf — "Oh, 
that  thou  hadst  hearkened!" 

No.  18.  "  Thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy 
pleasure  they  are  and  were  created."  A  very  plain 
scripture  truth,  that  God  made  such  a  world  .as  it  pleas- 
ed him  to  make ;  but  nothing  of  man's  future  destiny. 

No.  19.  "  The  pleasure  of  the  Lord  shall  prosper  in 
his  hand,"  Is.  53 :  10.  Doubtless  it  shall ;  but  shall 
all  men  be  saved  ?  That  is  the  question. 

No.  20.  "  So  shall  my  word  be  that  goeth  forth  out 
of  my  mouth ;  it  shall  not  return  unto  me  void ;  but  it 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  105 

feliall  accomplish  that  which. I  please,  and  it  shall  pros- 
per in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it,"  Is.  55  :  11.  The 
whole  passage  reads  thus  :  .  "  As  the  rain  cometh  down 
and  the  snow  from  heaven,  and  returneth  not  thither, 
but  wateieth  the  earth  and  maketli  it  bring  forth  and 
bud,  that  it  may  give  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to 
the  eater,  so  shall  my  word  be."  Does  it  say,  the  thing 
which  God  pleases,  is  that  all  men  be  saved,  however 
they  may  neglect  the  blessing  thus  poured  out  from 
heaven  ?  Not  so.  As  the  rain,  so  shall  my  word  be. 
Human  neglect  may  frustrate  both  blessings.  The 
rain  of  heaven  may  cause  the  field  of  the  slothful  to 
bring  forth  but  thorns,  and  briers,  and  noxious  weeds, 
"  nigh  unto  cursing"  (Heb.  6:8).  So  the  word  of 
God,  appointed  for  a  "  savor  of  life  unto  life,"  becomes 
a  "  savor  of  aeath  unto  death.''  No  text  could  better 
teach  the  indispensable  necessity  of  human  exertion, 
concurring  with  the  divine  favor.  The  same  text,  re- 
peated, forms  argument  No.  53. 

Number  21  contains  this  passage  :  "  Having  made 
known  unto  us  the  mystery  of  his  will,  according  to 
his  good  pleasure  which  he  hath  purposed  in  himself, 
that  in  the  dispensation  of  the  fulness  of  times  he 
might  gather  together  in  one  all  things  in  Christ,  both 
which  are  in  heaven  and  which  are  on  earth,  even  in 
him."  Eph,  1 :  9,  10.  Now,  the  Universalist  might 
draw  support  from  the  latter  part  of  this  passage,  pro- 
vided he  might  reconstruct  the  two  chief  phrases  on 
which  the  whole  meaning  turns,  so  that  instead  of 
"  gather  together  in  one  "  it  should  read,  make  blessed 
in  heaven,  and  instead  of  "  all  things,"  all  men.  With- 
out that  privilege  it  can  yield  him  no  help.     For  if  the 


106  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

phrase,  "  all  things  both  which  are  in  heaven  and 
which  are  on  earth,"  be  taken  literally  and  without 
restriction,  it  designates  the  whole  creation,  animate 
and  inanimate.  In  that  case — observing  the  special 
and  double  emphasis  which  the  verse  lays  on  Christ — 
the  most  that  could  be  signified  by  "  gathering  in  one 
[i.  e.  under  one  head]  all  things  in  Christ,"  would  be 
the  exaltation  of  Christ  to  dominion  over  the  collective 
universe,  things  animate  and  inanimate,  friends  and 
foes.  The  passage  would  then  correspond  with  the 
statement  of  verse  20th  in  the  same  chapter — "  hath 
set  him  [Christ]  at  his  own  right  hand  in  the  heavenly 
places,  far  above  all  principality  and  power  and  might 
and  dominion,  and  every  name  that  is  named,  not  only 
in  this  world,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come  ;  and 
hath  put  all  things  under  his  feety 

But  there  is  a  closer  union  than  that  in  which  the 
whole  universe  participates  :  the  perfect  union  of 
Christ's  friends,  which  he  contemplated  when  he  said, 
"  I  pray  for  them ;  I  pray  not  for  the  world,  but  for 
them  which  thou  hast  given  me  ....  Neither  pray  I 
for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  which  shall  believe 
on  me  through  their  word  ;  that  they  all  may  be  one." 
Now,  if  we  restrict  this  phrase  "  all  things,"  in  the 
text,  we  may  not  do  it  arbitrarily,  but  in  accordance 
with  other  Scripture  and  the  context.  He  will  then 
"  gather  together  all  things  "  that  are  to  be  gathered, 
"  all  things  in  Christ,"  holy  beings  ;  "  both  which  are 
in  heaven  and  which  are  on  earth." — One  dark  world, 
the  world  of  hell,  has  no  part  in  that  union.  But 
Christ  will  gather  in  one  happy  and  harmonious  whole, 
one  triumphant  church,  of  which  he  is   the  head,  the 


PERVERSIONS  OP  SCRIPTURE.  107 

saints  in  heaven  and  saints  on  earth,  Gentile  and  Jew 
ahke.  Thus,  in  the  22d  verse,  God  "  hath  put  all 
things  under  his  feet,  and  given  him  to  be  head  over  all 
things  to  the  church,  v/liich  is  his  body." 

Whether  taken,  therefore,  in  an  unrestricted  or  a  res- 
tricted sense,  whether  declaring  the  gathering  of  the 
whole  Universe  under  Christ,  as  King,  or  of  the  whole 
Church  under  him,  as  Head,  the  text  has  nothing  for  Uni- 
versalism.  As  Monarch,  he  will  reign  over  a  harmonious 
empire,  and  "  break  in  pieces  his  enemies  with  a  rod  of 
iron  ;"  as  Head  over  all  things  to  the  Church,  he  will 
gather  them  into  a  perfect  union,  even  according  to 
his  prayer  while  on  earth.  Which  of  these  views  is 
prominent,  it  is  not  easy  perhaps  to  say.  In  tlie  21st 
and  22d  verses  of  the  chapter  both  views  seem  to  be 
combined. 

Number  22  cites  four  .verses,  (Is.  14 :  24,  27  ;  46  : 
11 ;  Eph.  1 :  11)  declaring  only  the  certainty  of  God's 
purposes  in  general,  and  therefore  requiring  no  com- 
ment. 

Number  23  cites  the  promise  to  Abraham,  (Gen. 
12 :  3)  closing  thus  :  "  In  tliee  shall  all  the  families  of 
the  earth  be  blessed ;"  and  (Gen.  22  :  18)  "  in  thy  seed 
shall  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  be  blessed." 

Number  24  is  the  repetition  of  the  same  promise  to 
Isaac,  Gen.  26  :  34. 

Number  25,  the  repetition  of  it  to  Jacob,  Gen.  28  : 
14. 

Number  26,  the  quotation  of  it  by  Peter,  Acts  3  : 
25,  26. 

Number  27,  the  quotation  of  it  by  Paul,  Gal.  3:8. 

Number   87   is   also,  virtually,  a   repetition   of  the 


108  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVEUSALISM. 

same  promise  ;  making  the  sixth  use  of  the  same  ma- 
terial for  a  separate  "  argument." 

The  passage  itself  very  obviously  declares  the  exten- 
sion of  the  gospel  blessings  to  all  nations  on  the  earth, 
both  Jevi  and  G-entile  ;  biit  utters  not  an  intimation 
concerning  the  final  salvation  of  every  child  of  Adam, 
in  Heaven.  To  go  no  further  for  evidence,  the  apos- 
tles Peter  and  Paul^  in  the  very  passages  quoted,  (Acts 
3  :  26  and  Gal.  3  :  8)  clearly  teach  that  the  fulfilment 
of  that  promise  was  taking  place  when  Christ's  gospel 
was  preached  "  to  the  Jews  first,"  and  when  the  same 
offer  of  justification  "  through  faith  "  was  proclaimed 
to  the  "  heathen."  "  They  which  are  of  the  faith,  the 
same  are  the  children  of  Abraham.  And  the  Scrip- 
ture foreseeing  that  God  would  justify  the  heathen 
through  faith,  preached  before  the  gospel  unto  Abra- 
ham, saying,  In  thee  shall  all  nations  be  blessed.  So 
tlien,  the^  ivhich  be  of  faith  are  blessed  with  faithful 
Abraham.  And  if  ye  are  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abra- 
ham's seed,  and  heirs  according  to  the  promise.''^  (Gal. 
3  :  7,  8,  9,  29.)  This  is  sufficiently  distinct.  While 
.  the  blessings  of  Abraham,  the  blessings  of  Christ,  are 
to  be  proffered  to  all  nations,  these  blessings  shall  be 
actually  reaped  only  by  those  individuals  who  are 
Christ's,  who  are  of  the  faith  ;  they  are  "  heirs  accordT 
ing  to  the  promise."     There  is  no  Universalism  here. 

Number  28  contains  this  solitary  scripture :  "Is 
the  law,  then,  against  the  promises  of  God  ?"  Gal.  3  :  21. 
But  as  this  has  no  more  connection  with  the  question 
than  has  the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  I  pass  it. 
•  Number  29  contains  a  favorite  passage.  Is.  45  :  23, 
24.     "  I  have  sworn  by  myself,  the  word  is  gone   out 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  109 

of  my  mouth  in  righteousness  and  shall  not  return, 
that  unto  me  every  knee  shall  bow,  every  tongue  shall 
swear.  Surely  shall  one  say,  In  the  Lord  have  I  right- 
eousness and  strength."  Here  the  Universalist  quota- 
tion always  discreetly  stops ;  but  let  us  read  straight 
on,  and  the  passage  explains  itself:  "Even  to  him 
shall  men  come  ;  and  all  that  are  incensed  againsi  him 
shall  be  ashamed.  In  the  Lord  shall  the  seed  of  Israel 
be  justified,  and  shall  glory." 

Tliis,  then,  declares  the  final  and  open  acknowledg- 
ment of  God's  ascendancy  and  dominion — his  undispu- 
ted sway  over  friends  and  foes.  All  "  that  are  incensed 
against  him,"  shall  be  "  ashamed  and  confounded,"  (as 
it  is  expressed  just  below);  "  the  seed  of  Israel "  (the 
spiritual  seed)  "  shall  glory."  Paul  has  told  us  when 
that  grand  and  solemn  time  shall  be.  He  quotes  this 
very  passage  (Rom.  14:  10,  11,  12,)  as  a  declaration 
of  the  day  of  final  judgment.  He  says,  "  We  shall 
all  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.  For  it 
is  written.  As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  every  knee  shall 
bow  to  me  and  every  tongue  shall  confess  to  God.  So 
THEN,"  he  adds,  "  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  of 
himself  to  God."  Yes,  friend  and  foe,  we  shall  all 
stand  before  that  judgment-seat,  and,  willing  or  unwil- 
ling, every  knee  shall  be  made  to  bow,  and  every 
tongue,  even  those  that  denied  him  on  earth,  constrained 
before  that  awful  throne  to  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
Lord.  Even  on  earth,  the  devils  were  forced  to  con- 
fess that  Jesus  was  the  Holy  One  of  God.  Multitudes 
of  men  now  defy  his  claims.  But  in  that  day,  none 
will  ha  able  to  deny  the  authority,  or  stand  before  that 
mighty  power. 


110  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Number  30.  "  What  he  had  promised  he  was  able  to 
perform."  Rom.  4:21.  This  text,  in  its  comiexion, 
declares  God's  ability  to  give  to  Abraham  a  son,  Isaac, 
as  he  had  promised.  Another  passage,  once  quoted 
already, — "  none  can  stay  his  hand  or  say  unto  him 
what  doest  thou?" — also  declares  God's  mighty  power, 
and  says  equally  little  of  final  salvation. 

Number  31.  "  Who  gave  himself  a  ransom  for  all." 
"  That  he  by  the  grace  of  God  should  taste  death  for 
every  man."  "  He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins  ;  and 
not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole 
world."  1  Tim.  2:6;  Heb.  2  :  9  ;  1  John  2  :  2.  Waiv- 
ing the  inconsistency,  again,  of  Mr.  Whittemore's  quo- 
ting Christ's  work  to  prove  final  salvation,*  —  these 
passages  simply  declare  the  freeness  and  sufiiciencj  of 
that  work  ;  it  is  ample,  all-sufficient.  All  men  might 
be  saved  by  it ;  Init  will  they  ?  Of  this  there  is  not 
an  intimation. 

So  we  say,  in  this  city  there  arc  free  schools  for  the 
thorough  education  of  all  the  children — they  are  pro- 
vided for  every  child — not  for  our  children  only,  but 
for  the  whole  multitude  of  children,  native  and  foreign. 
But  are  they  all  in  the  schools  ? — will  every  one  of 
them  bo  educated  ?  Alas,  not  half  of  them,  perhaps, 
are  kept  in  those  schools,  not  one  in  four  will  receive 
their  full  benefit.  Christ  died  for  the  whole  world, 
that  "  whosoever  believeth  on  him  might  have  eternal 
life."  But  he  said  to  some,  "  Ye  will  not  come  unto 
me  that  ye  might  have  life."  Ho  gave  himself  a  "  ran- 
som for  all ;"  but  his  apostle  tells  of  those  who  "  deny 


*  The  reader  is  desired  to  bear  this  in  mind  without  furtlier  allusion. 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  Ill 

the  Lord  that  bought  them,  and  bring  upon  themselves 
swift  destruction."  The  offers  of  mercy  are  made  to 
all ;  the  promises  of  mercy,  only  to  those  who  accept 
the  offers. 

Number  32.  "  He  shall  see  of  the  travail  of  his 
soul  and  be  satisfied,"  Is.  53:  11.  Entirely  wide  of 
the  point.  "And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me,"  John,  12  :  32.  This  is 
very  far  from  declaring  that  he  will  bring  all  men  to 
heaven,  and  give  them  eternal  life.  Christ  elsewhere 
defines,  to  whom  this  "  lifting  up "  of  himself  shall 
bring  eternal  blessedness.  Listen :  "  And  as  Moses 
was  lifted  up  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  shall  the  Son 
of  Man  be  lifted  up,  that  ichosoevcr  believeth  in  him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life,"  John,  3  : 
14,  15.  The  text,  then,  neither  asserts  nor  implies 
the  final  salvation  of  all  men.  Its  statement  is  in 
itself  somewhat  vague  and  indeterminate  ;  and  as  its 
connexion  is  abrupt,  its  actual  reference  has  been  di- 
versely understood.  The  previous  words  are  these  : 
"  Now  is  the  judgment  of  this  world ;  now  shall  the 
prince  of  this  world  be  cast  out." 

If  we  understand  Christ  to  say  that  he  is  now  break- 
ing the  hitherto  undisputed  sway  of  Satan,  and  attract- 
ing the  human  race  toward  himself ;  or  that  hj  his 
cross  he  will  open  a  way  whereby  all  men  may  come 
to  him,  and  he  will  draw  men  of  all  classes  and  nations; 
either  view  would  meet  all  the  demands  of  this  brief 
passage  and  the  scripture  mode  of  statement.  The 
scripture,  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands,  employs  current 
forms  of  speech,  without  affecting  useless  and  formal 
niceties  of  expression.     Where  general  and  even  uni- 


112  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

versal  phraseology  has  gained  a  standing  restriction 
by  universal  usage  and  perfect  understanding,  the 
sacred  writers  do  not  hesitate  to  employ  it.  All  writ- 
ers or  speakers  do  so.  Language  just  like  this,  is  used 
of  Christ  in  John,  3  :  26  ;  "  behold,  the  same  baptizeth 
and  all  men  come  to  hini.''^  It  does  not  mean,  (as  is 
perfectly  understood,)  that  every  person  in  the  world 
or  in  Judea  came  to  him  ;  but  that  he  was  the  object 
of  general,  or,  as  we  often  say,  universal,  interest.  So, 
in  the- text,  Christ  declares  himself  the  object  of  gene- 
ral or  universal  attraction,  without  at  all  impairing  his 
other  statements  concerning  those  who  will  not  receive 
him  —  who  "  shall  die  in  your  sins  ;  and  whither  I  go 
ye  cannot  come,"  Similar  general  expressions  are  to 
be  found  in  Nos.  88,  39,  40  ;  which  form  a  good  com- 
mentary on  this  passage. 

This  I  apprehend  to  be  the  meaning.  Still,  another 
view  is  possible.  This  word  "  draw,"  is  used  of  force 
and  compulsion,  as  well  as  gentle  influences.  (Acts 
16  :  19  ;  21 :  20  ;  Jas.  2  :  6  — the  same  Greek  word  in 
each  case.)  Now  if  we  understand  that  he  is  to  be 
exalted  on  the  cross  as  the  grand  central  object, 
toward  which  all  men  shall  be  drawn  in  endearing 
love  or  in  eternal  conflict  —  this,  too,  would  give  a 
consistent  meaning.  But  in  any  case,  the  text  does 
not  assert  that  every  human  being  shall  be  drawn  to 
heaven. 

Number  33.  "  Behold  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of 
great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all  people."  Luke  2  :  10. 
Joyful  tidings  indeed,  freely  proclaimed  to  all  men  ;  but 
not  a  word  of  the  acceptance  by  all  men,  nor  their 
final  salvation. 


PERVEESIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  113 

Numbers  34  and  35,  contain  the  passages,  John  4  : 
42,  and  1  John  4 :  14,  in  which  Christ  is  called  "  the 
Savior  of  the  world."  But,  as  to  be  the  "  Surgeon  of 
a  Regiment,"  does  not  imply  that  every  member  of  the 
regiment  receives  surgical  treatment,  and  that  against 
his  will ;  so  Christ  may  be  called  the  Savior,  the  pro- 
vided, the  offered  Savior  "  of  the  world,"  though  many 
obviously  do  not  avail  themselves  of  his  kind  offers, 
and  refuse  the  provided  help  of  the  great  Physician, 
Closely  akin  to  tliis  is  the  passage,  (in  argument  No.  82,) 
"God  who  is  the  Savior  of  all  men,  especially  of  those 
that  believe,"  (1  Tim.  4 :  10,)  —  a  passage  that  carries 
its  own  explanation  on  its  face :  the  offered  Savior  of  all 
men, — the  special,  actual  Savior  of  them  that  believe. 
"  God  so  loved  the  ivorld  that  he  gave  his  only  begot- 
ten son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  might  not 
perish." 

Number  36.  "  And  he  shall  send  Jesus  Christ, 
which  before  was  preached  unto  you,  whom  the  heaven 
must  receive  until  the  times  of  restitution  of  all  things, 
which  God  hath  spoken  by  the  mouth  of  all  his  holy 
prophets  since  the  world  began,"  Acts  3 :  20,  21.  The 
Universalist  arbitrarily  assumes  that  the  "  restitution 
of  all  things,"  denotes  the  final  holiness  and  happiness 
of  all  men.  But  Christ  uses  a  similar  phrase  of  Elias : 
"  Elias  truly  shall  first  come  and  restore  all  things." — 
Matt.  17  :  11.  But  Elias  (or  John  the  Baptist)  was 
not  to  save  all  men  in  heaven  ;  he  was  to  restore  all 
things  which  God  had  assigned  and  the  prophet  de- 
clared— all  within  his  function  ;  he  was  the  means  of  a 
partial  reformation  among  the  Jews,  "  restoring  "  a 
portion  of  them   only,  and  in  some  degree,  to  a  right 


114  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

notion  of  their  own  economy  and  of  the  Messiah,  and 
to  a  preparation  for  Christ's  coming. 

A  far  higher  restoration  was  to  be  accomplished  by 
Christ,  a  glorious  recovery  of  a  fallen  church  (Acts  1 : 
6)  and  a  ruined  world  ;  and  "  the  times  of  restitution" 
here  spoken  of  are  no  other — so  the  text  specifies — than 
the  same  which  "  God  spake  by  the  mouth  of  all  his 
holy  prophets."  The  reader  who  will  read  the  subse- 
quent verses,  containing  the  quotations  from  those 
prophets,  will  see  that  the  text  has  no  bearing  whatever 
on  the  question  of  final  salvation,  but  teaches  that  the 
heavens  must  receive  the  Lord  Jesus,  until  all  things 
spoken  by  the  prophets  in  relation  to  his  work,  his 
reign,  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  the  triumph  of  religion, 
shall  be  fulfilled.  Indeed,  in  the  next  verse  but  one, 
we  are  told  "  that  every  soul  which  will  not  hear  that 
prophet  [whom  the  Lord  your  God  will  raise  up]  shall 
be  destroyed  from  among  the  people." 

Number  37.  "  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and 
the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed  ;  it 
shall  bruise  thy  head  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel." 
Gen.  3  :  15.     No  comment  required. 

Number  38.  "  All  the  ends  of  the  world  shall  remem- 
ber and  turn  unto  the  Lord ;  and  all  the,  kindreds  of 
the  nations  shall  worship  before  him."  Ps.  22 :  27.  The 
spread  and  triumph  of  God's  kingdom,  on  the  earth, 
manifestly.  It  does  not  state  that  every  child  of  Adam 
from  the  beginning  has  turned  to  the  Lord,  and  is  to 
be  saved  in  heaven ;  nor  that  it  will  be  so. 

Numbers  39  and  40.  "All  kings  shall  fall  down 
before  him,  all  nations  shall  serve  him  .....  men 
shall  be  blessed  in  him,  all  nations  shall  call  him  bless- 


PERVERSIONS  OP  SCRIPTURE.  115 

ed."  Ps.  72 :  11,  17.  "  All  nations  whom  thou  hast 
made  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee,  0  Lord,  and 
shall  glorify  thy  name."  Ps.  86 :  9.  The  same  as  before  ; 
the  future  triumph  of  Christ's  gospel  on  earth. 

Numbers  41,  42,  44,  merely  contain  Scripture  state- 
ments that  God  is  a  merciful  God,  good,  and  slow  to 
anger.  Ps.  136  ;  Ps.  145  :  8,  9. 

Number  43.  "  All  thy  works  shall  praise  thee,  and 
thi/  saints  shall  bless  thee."  Ps.  145  :  10.  Among  all 
these  irrelevant  passages  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  simple  question  is,  "  Scripture  evidence  of  the 
eventual  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men."  No  com- 
ment is  necessary.* 

Number  45.  "  The  Lord  is  merciful  and  gracious  ; 
he  will  not  always  chide,  neither  will  he  keep  his  anger 
forever,"  Ps.  103  :  8,  9.  Look  forward  two  verses  and 
you  will  find  that  it  is  mercy  "  towards  them  that  fear 
him." 

Number  46.  "  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they 
shall  be  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red  like  crim- 
son, they  shall  be  as  wool."  Is.  1 :  18.  A  gracious 
promise  of  forgiveness,  uttered  on  the  condition  just 
expressed,  "  Wash  you,  make  you  clean,  put  away  the 
evil  of  your  doings,"  etc.  (verses  16,  17);  and  followed 
by  the  threat,  (v.  20)  "  But  if  ye  refuse  and  rebel,  ye 
shall  be  devoured  by  the  sword." 

Number  47.  Is.  2  :  2.  "  All  nations  shall  flow  unto 
it,"  i.  e.  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's   house.     The  fu- 


*  The  reader  will  take  notice  here  of  a  characteristic  procedure,  in 
separating  these  three  verses  (8,  9  and  10)  of  the  145th  Psalm,  to  make 
three  separate  arguments — but  all  irrelevant.  The  process  is  repeated 
in  other  cases. 


116  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ture  glorious  ascendancy  of  Christ's  kingdom  among 
the  nations,  in  this  world. 

Numbers  48,  49,  50,  51,  are  made  by  cutting  up 
three  verses  (6,  7,  8)  of  Is.  25,  into  four  fragments, 
and  arresting  the  quotation  in  the  middle  of  the  third 
Terse,  for  very  obvious  reasons.  The  first  two  clauses 
are  these  :  "  And  in  this  mountain  shall  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  make  unto  all  people  a  feast  of  fat  things,  a  feast 
of  wines  on  the  lees,  of  fat  things  full  of  marrow,  of 
wines  on  the  lees  well  refined.  And  he  will  destroy  in 
this  mountain  the  face  of  the  covering  cast  over  all 
people  and  the  vail  that  is  spread  over  all  nations." — 
This,  as  the  context  shows,  denotes  the  triumph  of 
God's  cliurch  in  this  world  ;  taken  literally,  the  deliv- 
erance and  prosperity  of  Israel ;  or,  if  symbolically, 
the  blessings  of  the  gospel  dispensation,  and  the  removal 
of  the  vail  of  idolatry  and  superstition  from  the  nations. 

The  other  two  clauses  read  thus :  "  He  will  swallow 
up  death  in  victory  ;  and  the  Lord  God  will  wipe  away 
tears  from  off  all  faces."  There  Mr.Whittemore  stops  ; 
but  read  on  : — "  And  the  rebuke  of  his  people  shall  he 
taken  away  from  off  all  the  earth ;  for  the  mouth  of 
the  Lord  hath  spoken  it."  It  is  then  God's  people 
whose  victory  and  fulness  of  joy  are  here  predicted  ; 
and  in  the  next  verse  but  one  we  are  told  how  he  will 
tread  down  their  enemies. 

Number  52.  "  The  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed, 
and  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together."  Is.  40 :  5.  Yes,  it 
shall  be  very  fully  revealed  even  here  below ; — and  some 
shall  "  wail "  when  they  see  his  final  glory.  Rev.  1 :  7. 

Number  53  repeats  the  quotation  of  number  20,  viz. 
Is.  55  :  10,  11. 


PERVEESIONS  OP  SCRIPTURE.  117 

Number  54.  "  I  will  also  give  thee  for  a  light  to 
the  Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation 
unto  the  end  of  the  earth."  Is.  49 : 6.  Eemarks 
are  not  called  for. 

Number  55.  "I  will  not  contend  forever,  neither  will 
I  be  always  wroth ;  for  the  spirit  should  fail  before  me, 
and  the  souls  which  I  have  made."  Is.  57  :  16.  The 
previous  verse  tells  us  that  God  is  speaking  of  the 
"  humble  and  contrite  ones ;"  while  subsequent  verses 
are  laden  with  threats  to  "  the  wicked." 

Number  56  contains  the  passage,  Jer.  31 :  33,  34. 
"  I  will  put  my  law  in  their  inward  parts,"  etc.  But 
as  the  last  words  preceding  expressly  declare  this  to  be 
a  covenant  or  promise  for  the  house  of  Israel,  there  is 
no  need  of  comment. 

Number  57.  "  The  Lord  will  not  cast  off  forever," 
etc.  Lament.  3  :  31 — 33.  But  the  prophet  is  speaking 
(\^^  25,  26)  of  those  "  that  wait  for  him,  the  soul  that 
seeketh  him."  Such  he  will  not  cast  off  forever,  though 
he  afflict  for  a  time. 

Number  58  quotes  the  passage,  Dan.  7  :  14,  in  which 
it  is  said  that  "  all  peoples,  nations  and  languages  shall 
serve  him  " — declaring  the  final  ascendancy  of  Christ's 
kingdom  on  earth,  but  employing  a  term,  "  serve^'' 
equally  compatible  with  voluntary  and  involuntary 
subjection. 

Number  59.  "I  will  ransom  them  from  the  power  of 
the  grave  ;  I  will  redeem  them  from  death.  0  death, 
I  will  be  thy  plague  ;  0  grave,  I  will  be  thy  destruc- 
tion." Hosea  13  :  14.  But  whom  will  he  thus  ransom 
and  redeem  ?  The  context  answers,  "  Israel,"  penitent 
Israel.     "  0  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in 


118  LECTUKES  ON  UNIVEESALISM. 

me  is  thy  help,"  (v.  9)  ;  "0  Israel,  return  unto  the 
Lord  thy  God,"  etc.  (14  : 1—5). 

Number  60.  "  He  retaineth  not  his  anger  forever, 
because  he  delighteth  in  mercy."  Micah7:18.  Towards 
whom  ?  The  very  last  words  preceding  are,  he  "  pass- 
eth  by  the  transgression  of  the  remnant  oihis  heritage ;" 
and  the  words  following  are  equally  restricted  to  his 
own  peculiar  people. 

Number  61.  The  people  "  wondered  at  the  gracious 
words  which  proceeded  out  of  his  mouth."  Luke  4 : 
22.  But  those  words  had  no  reference  to  this  subject. 
Yet  on  that  very  occasion  he  did  tell  them  that  Elijah 
blessed  but  one  of  many  widows,  and  of  many  lepers 
Elisha  healed  but  one.  And  they  led  him  to  the  brow 
of  the  hill  to  cast  him  down  headlong  ! 

Number  62  refers,  without  quoting,  to  Matthew  6  : 
25 — 44,  where  Jesus  enjoins  confidence  in  God,  and 
dissuades  from  anxious  thoughts  for  the  morrow  ; 
assuring  those  who  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness,  that  all  things  else  shall  be  added 
unto  them. 

Number  63  refers  to  Matt.  16  :  6,  12,  where  Jesus 
cautioned  his  disciples  to  "  beware  of  the  leaven  [or 
doctrine]  of  the  Pharisees  and  of  the  Sadducees  !" 

The  reader,  as  he  casts  his  eye  over  these  absurdly 
irrelevant  quotations  of  the  notorious  champion  of 
Universalism,  will  be  sometimes  ready  to  question 
whether  Mr.  Whittemore  can  be  fairly  represented — 
whether  such  puerile  arguments  could  have  obtained 
a  circulation  of  12000  copies  in  1851 ;  but  if  he  will 
take  the  trouble  to  examine  for  himself,  he  will  find 
that  I  am  giving  Mr.  W.  the  full  benefit   of  his  "  evi- 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  119 

dence    from    the    Scriptures "  —  all   his    quotations. 

Number  64.  "In  the  resurrection  they  neither  marry 
nor  are  given  in  marriage ;  but  are  as  the  angels  of 
God  in  heaven."  Matt.  22  :  30.  In  the  parallel  passage 
in  Luke  20 :  35,  it  reads  thus  :  "  They  that  are  counted 
worthy  to  obtain  that  world  and  the  resurrection  [i.  e. 
the  blessed  resurrection — see  Phil.  5 :  11]  from  the  dead, 
neither  marry,"  etc. ;  a  qualification  which  Mr.  W. 
very  carefully  refrains  from  quoting. 

Number  65.  "  Woe  unto  you.  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites  ;  for  ye  shut  iip  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
against  men  ;  for  ye  neither  go  in  yourselves,  neither 
suffer  ye  them  that  are  entering  to  go  in."  Matt.  23 : 
13.  Rather  an  unfortunate  quotation  for  a  Universal- 
ist,  that  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  would  not  enter 
heaven,  and  prevented  others  !  And  not  only  so ;  but 
to  these  same  men  on  another  occasion  Jesus  said, 
"  Ye  serpents,  ye  generation  of  vipers  !  how  can  ye 
escape  the  damnation  of  hell  ?"  Matt.  23  :  33. 

Number  QQ  refers  (without  transcribing)  to  Peter's 
vision,  (Acts  10  :  10—15  ;  11 :  5—10)  in  which,  by  the 
symbol  of  a  sheet  containing  things  ceremonially  un- 
clean, with  the  command,  "  Slay  and  eat,"  Peter  is 
taught  that  Gentiles,  as  well  as  Jews,  are  to  be  receiv- 
ed into  Christ's  church  on  earth.  This  is  the  single 
lesson  of  the  vision,  as  expressly  declared  in  verses  34 
and  35.  The  egregious  and  pitiful  displays  of  weak- 
ness in  Mr.  Whittemore's  interpretation,  I  omit. 

Numbers  67,  68,  69,  quote,  by  piecemeal,  Romans 
5  :  18,  19,  20,  21.  "  As  by  the  offence  of  one,  judgment 
came  upon  all  to  condemnation ;  even  so  by  the  right- 
eousness of  one  the  free  gift  came  upon  all  men  unto 


120  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

justification  of  life.  For  as  by  one  man's  disobedience 
many  were  made  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one 
shall  manji  be  made  righteous.  Moreover,  the  law  en- 
tered that  the  offence  might  abound.  But  where  sin 
abounded  grace  did  much  more  abound  ;  that  as  sin 
hath  reigned  unto  death,  even  so  might  grace  reign 
through  righteousness  unto  eternal  life,  by  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord." 

Now,  observe,  the  whole  chapter  of  which  this  is  an 
extract,  is  occupied  with  a  discussion  of  the  method  by 
which  believers  are  justified.  It  begins  thus  :  There- 
fore being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God 
through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;"  and  continues  in  the 
same  strain.  He  speaks  of  us  "  who  have  access  by 
faith — in  whose  hearts  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
by  the  Holy  Ghost — justified  by  Christ's  blood — recon- 
ciled to  God — and  joying  in  God  ;"  (vv.  1-11)  and 
describes  the  effect  of  that  justification  on  those  who 
thus  partake  of  it.  The  argument  in  the  passage  quo- 
ted, contrasts  the  relation  of  Christ  to  the  believer 
with  that  of  Adam  ;  and  simply  and  manifestly  de- 
clares that  Christ  as  effectually  secures  the  salvation  of 
all  who  are  united  to  him  by  faith,  as  the  fall  of  Adam 
did  the  fall  and  condemnation  of  all  that  were  connec- 
ted with  him  by  nature.  We  may  add,  that  as  noth- 
ing which  Adam  did,  condemned  the  sinner  to  endless 
misery,  independent  of  his  own  acts  and  voluntary 
participation  in  sin,  so  nothing  that  Christ  has  done, 
can  save  him  from  God's  wrath,  without  his  own  per- 
sonal, voluntary  choice  of  holiness,  and  of  Christ  as 
his  portion. 

Number  70.  "  Because  the   creature  itself  shall  be 


PERVERSIONS   OP  SCRIPTURE.  121 

delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glo- 
rious liberty  of  the  sons  of  God."  Rom.  8  :  28.  With- 
out entering  on  the  discussion  of  a  vexed  and  obscure 
passage,  I  would  say  that  the  most  probable  interpre- 
tation seems  to  be  that  of  De  Wette  and  others,  which 
imderstands  by  "creature,"  here,  the  creation, or  more 
exactly,  "  all  nature  animate  and  inanimate  in  contra- 
distinction from  man."  This  whole  creation  groaneth 
and  travaileth  in  pain  together  until  now — it  is  suffer- 
ing in  the  fall ;  but  it  shall  also  participate  in  the  glo- 
rious liberty  of  the  sons  of  God — "  with  the  coming  of 
God's  kingdom  and  the  manifestation  of  the  Messiah's 
glory  shall  be  connected  an  exaltation  and  glorifica- 
tion of  all  nature."*  If  this  be  not  the  meaning,  the 
passage  is  too  obscure  to  found  an  argument  upon,  and 
certainly  gives  no  aid  to  Universalism. 

Number  71.  "  Blindness  in  part  is  happened  to 
Israel  until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in. 
And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved,"  etc.  Rom.  11 :  25, 
26.  This  is  a  fragment  of  a  passage  concerning  the 
ingathering  of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles,  living  in  mil- 
lenial  times.  It  has  no  reference  to  men  of  all  times : 
Paul  had  previously  proved  that  a  large  portion  of  the 
Jews  of  his  own  time  would  be  rejected  and  lost.  But 
the  time  is  coming  when  "  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles," 
the  great  body  of  the  Gentiles  then  living,  and  "  all 
Israel,"  surviving  Israel  as  a  people,  shall  be  gathered 
into  Christ's  kingdom,  and  saved.  The  church  is  look- 
ing and  praying  for  that  time.  Meanwhile,  "  blindness 
in  part  is  happened  to  Israel ;"     a  large  part  of  them 


*  De  Wette,  in  loco. 


122  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

"  behold  as  despisers,  and  wonder,  and  perish."  So  do 
the  Gentiles  also. 

Number  72.  "  For  none  of  us  liveth  to  himself,  and 
no  man  dieth  to  himself.  For  whether  we  live,  we  live 
unto  the  Lord ;  and  whether  we  die,  we  die  unto  the 
Lord ;  whether  Ve  live,  therefore,  or  die,  we  are  the 
Lord's."  Rom.  14 :  7,  8.  Paul  speaks  of  "  us,"  himself, 
and  the  fellow-Christians  whom  he  was  addressing. 
The  attempt  to  extract  Universalism  from  such  a 
passage,  shows  the  ludicrous  straits  to  which  the 
system  is  driven.  Think  of  saying  of  a  profane  and 
loathsome  wretch,  "  he  lives  unto  the  Lord !" 

Number  73.  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive."  1  Cor.  15 :  22.  A  favorite 
passage ;  it  is  the  one  which  Mr.  Barnum  ordered  to 
be  inscribed  in  the  form  of  a  pair  of  balances  on  the 
tomb-stone  of  one  of  his  strolling  circus-musicians,* 
on  one  of  those  expeditions,  in  which  he  himself  was 
alternately  negro-song-singer  and  Universalist  preacher, 
deceiver  and  dupe,  swindler  and  swindled. 

But  the  passage  has  no  consolation  for  wicked  men. 
Look  through  the  chapter,  and  you  will  find  the  whole 
of  it  taken  up  with  an  argument  for  the  resurrection 
of  Christ's  disciples,  drawn  from  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  himself.  And  this  text  plainly  speaks  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  and  nothing  else  ; —  it  means 
precisely  what  it  says,  they  "  shall  be  made  alive" 
raised  from  the  dead.  Their  state  after  tlie  resur- 
rection is  not  hinted  at  in  this  verse.  Believers  will 
indeed  rise  to  blessedness ;  but  the  statement  is  not 
found  in  this  text.    The  apostle,  moreover,  is  speaking 

*  Life  of  P.  T.  Barnum,  p.  187. 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE. 


123 


here  only  of  believers ;  he  proceeds,  "  every  man  in 
his  own  order:  Christ  the  first-fruits,  afterward  they 
that  are  Christ's,  at  his  coming."  Here  is  a  double 
limitation :  he  declares  only  the  resurrection  from  the 
dead ;  he  has  in  view  now  only  the  case  of  believers. 

Numbers  74  and  75  quote  other  passages  of  the 
same  chapter,  "  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed 
is  death,"  v.  26.  Also  verses  42—44,  describing  the 
state  of  the  spiritual  body  in  the  resurrection.  But  it 
is  difficult  to  see  how  the  abolition  of  temporal  death 
to  the  Christian,  or  the  characteristics  of  the  Christian's 
spiritual  body,  can  prove  the  salvation  of  all  men  in 
heaven. 

Number  76.  "  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the 
world  unto  himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto 
them."  2  Cor.  5 :  19.  This  verse  states  the  object  of 
Christ's  work ;  but  is  so  far  from  affirming  that  all  men 
are  actually  reconciled,  or  that  the  reconciliation  takes 
place  without  their  agency,  that  hi  the  very  next  verse 
Paul  entreats  them,  "  We  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead, 
be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  Mr.  Whittemore  prudently 
omits  this  entreaty. 

Number  77.  "There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek, 
there  is  neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  male 
nor  female  ;  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  if 
ye  be  Christ's,  then  are  ye  Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs 
according  to  the  promise."  Gal.  3 :  28,  29.  No  com- 
ment is  required  except  that,  according  to  the  last 
words  preceding,  those  whom  the  apostle  addressed 
had  "  put  on  Christ,"  and  were  "  all  children  of  God 
by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Number    78   contains    the    passage,  "  Every  knee 


124  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

should  bow,"  etc.  Phil.  2 :  9—11,  vh'tually  the  same 
with  No.  29,  and  sufficiently  explained  in  that  place  ; — 
not  a  holy  and  voluntary  submission  alone,  but  a  sub- 
jection, voluntary  or  involuntary,  before  Christ's 
glorious  power. 

Number  79.  "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thy  heart  that 
Grod  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be 
saved."  Rom.  10 : 9.  But  how  if  we  do  not  believe  and 
confess  ?     "He  that  believe  th  not  shall  be  damned." 

Number  80.  "It  pleased  the  Father  that  in  him 
should  all  fulness  dwell ;  and  having  made  peace 
through  the  blood  of  his  cross,  by  him  to  reconcile  all 
things  unto  himself;  by  him,  I  say,  whether  they  be 
things  in  earth  or  things  in  heaven."  Col.  1 :  19,  20. 
This  passage,  let  the  hearer  observe,  does  not  speak  of 
all  souls,  but  of  "  all  things  "  in  heaven  and  on  earth. 
In  interpreting  it,  we  are  therefore  absolutely  com- 
pelled to  understand  in  a  very  limited  sense  either  this 
phl-ase,  "  all  things,"  or  the  word  "  reconcile."  To 
affirm  that  literally  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth, 
comprising  holy  angels  as  well  as  beasts  and  stones, 
shall  be  saved  in  heaven,  forces  an  absurd  meaning  on 
the  passage.  If  we  take  this  phrase  in  its  unrestricted 
and  utmost  extent,  the  "  reconciliation "  can  be  no 
more  than  a  general  union,  or  order  introduced  into 
the  universe.  But  if  we  choose  to  insist  that  the  word 
"  reconcile  "  here  denotes  a  cordial  union  to  God,  then 
the  phrase  "  all  things"  must  be  restricted — and  re- 
stricted, too,  according  to  the  explanatory  declarations 
elsewhere  given  in  God's  word ; — he  was  manifested  to 
reconcile  all  that  was  to  be  reconciled. 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  125 

"  The  real  scope  of  the  passage  seems  to  be  that  all 
reconciliation  in  GocVs  universe  was  to  be  effected  only 
through  Christ.  The  special  emphasis  of  the  verse  it- 
self, ("  by  him,  I saj/,''^  )  and  its  context,  alike  point  to 
this  meaning.  The  theme  is  the  dignity  of  Christ. 
The  previous  verses  are  setting  forth  his  glory :  He  is 
the  creator  (v.  16  )  ;  he  upholds  all  (  v.  17  )  ;  he  is 
the  head  of  the  church  (v.  18  )  ;  in  him  is  all  the  ful- 
ness of  God  (v.  19),  and  (v.  20,)  he  is  the  only 
pacificator,  the  source  of  all  reconciliation  in  God's 
universe,  in  earth  and  heaven,  between  God  and  sin- 
ners, and  among  sinners  themselves. 

This  "  reconciliation  "is  so  far  from  including  the 
unconditional  salvation  of  all  men,  which  Universalism 
holds,  that  the  very  next  verse  conditions  it  upon  con- 
tinuance in  the  faith  and  hope  of  the  gospel :  "  And 
you  that  were  sometime  alienated  and  enemies  in  your 
mind  by  wicked  works,  yet  now  hath  he  reconciled,  in 
the  body  of  his  flesh  through  death,  to  present  you 
holy  and  unblameable  and  unreproveable  in  his  sight ; 
if  ye  continue  in  the  faith  grounded  and  settled,  and 
be  not  moved  away  from  the  hope  of  the  gospel,"  etc. 
"Whatever,  then,  that  reconciliation  may  be,  it  is  here 
conditioned  on  continuance  in  the  faith ; — a  condition 
fatal  to  Universalism.* 

Number  81  refers  again  to  ITim.  2: 1 — 6  ;  a  passage 
which  has  been  already  used  piecemeal  in  numbers  7, 
8  and  31. 

Number  82  contains  the  passage,  "  God  who  is  the 
Savior  of  all  men,  especially  of  those  that  believe," — 
but  garbled  and  shorn  of  the  latter  clause,  for  obvi. 


*  This  exposition  takes  the  text  as  it  stands  in  the  English  version. 


126  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ous  reasons.  The  passage  has  been  explained  under 
number  35. 

Number  83.  "  For  the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth 
salvation  hath  appeared  to  all  men,  teaching  us  that 
denying  ungodliness  and  every  worldly  lust,  we  should 
live  soberly,  righteously  and  godly  in  this  present 
world,  looking  for  that  blessed  hope,"  etc.  Certainly 
a  gospel  that  holds  out  a  "  blessed  hope  "  to  those  who 
lead  such  a  life  as  that,  presents  no  great  encourage- 
ment for  the  "  unholy  and  profane,"  the  "  filthy  "  and 
"  abominable." 

Number  84  quotes  Heb.  2 :  14,  where  it  is  said  that 
Christ  came  that  he  "  might  destroy  him  that  had  the 
power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil."  But  it  is  not  easy 
to  see  how  the  crushing  of  Satan  is  to  help  his  followers 
into  heaven.  Christ  himself  says  that  the  wicked  shall 
share  Satan's  sufferings :  "  Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed, 
into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels." 

Number  85.  "  We  lohich  Jmve  believed  do  enter 
into  rest."  Heb.  4 :  3.  But  what  of  the  unbeliever  ? 
That  is  the  question. 

Number  86  quotes  the  words,  "  it  is  impossible  for 
God  to  lie,"  Heb.  6 ;  18,  and  refers  to  the  promise  unto 
Abraliam ;  which  has  already  been  discussed. 

Number  87  uses  the  same  material  that  was  already 
used  in  number  56  ;  by  citing  Paul's  quotation  (Heb. 
8 :  11,)  of  the  covenant  which  God  would  make  with 
the  house  of  Israel,  found  in  Jer.  31 :  33,  34. 

Number  88  quotes  the  statement  made  by  Paul  to 
his  fellow- Christians,  tha.t  God  "chastens  us  for  our 
profit,"  and  that  the  chastisement  afterward  yieldeth 


PERVERSIONS  OP  SCRIPTURE.  127 

the  peaceable  fruit  of  righteousness  unto  them  which 
are  exercised  thereby."  Heb.  12  :  10,  11.  Christians 
have  often  found  it  true ;  while  sinners  have,  like 
Pharaoh,  been  as  often  hardened  beneath  their  chas- 
tisements. John  tells  (Rev.  16  :  9)  of  men  who  "  were 
scorched  with  great  heat,  and  blasphemed  the  name  of 
God ;"  and  of  others  (v.  10,  11)  who  "  gnawed  their 
tongues  for  pain,  and  blasphemed  the  God  of  heaven 
because  of  their  pains  and  sores,  and  repented  not  of 
their  deeds." 

Number  89  quotes  another  passage  which  is  in  its 
very  phraseology  expressly  limited  to  Christians,  to 
those  who  "  walk  in  the  light."  With  his  usual  fair- 
ness, and  according  to  the  approved  Universalist 
method,  Mr.  W.  quotes  only  this  clause,  "  the  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  1  John  1 :  7. 
The  whole  verse  reads  thus :  "  But  if  we  walk  in  the 
light,  as  he  is  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with 
another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth 
us  from  all  sin."     Comment  is  superfluous. 

Number  90.  "  For  this  purpose  the  Son  of  God  was 
manifested,  that  he  might  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil ;"  i.  e.  his  plans  of  wickedness  and  control  over 
men's  hearts.  1  John  3  :  8.  In  Christ's  followers  this 
object  is  accomplished  ;  and  the  argument  of  this  verse 
is,  that  therefore  he  who  lives  in  sin  is  no  follower  of 
Christ.  Many  do  live  in  sin,  and  die  in  sin.  The 
text  says  not  a  word  of  the  purification,  much  less  the 
salvation,  of  all  souls ;  only  insists  that  Christ's  fol- 
lowers must  be  pure.  While  the  next  verse  but  one 
tells  us  of  "  the  children  of  God,"  and  "  the  children 
of  the  devil,"  with  their  distinctive  marks. 


128  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Number  91.  "  And  this  is  the  record,  that  God 
hath  given  to  us  eternal  life,  and  this  life  is  in  his 
Son."  1  John  5:11.  Were  it  consistent  for  the 
Universalist  to  apply  this  or  any  other  of  these  texts 
concerning  Christ  to  future  salvation,  how  ridiculous 
to  bring  forward  this  passage  in  proof  that  all  men  will 
enjoy  that  eternal  life. 

Number  92.  "  And  every  creature  which  is  in  heav- 
en, and  on  earth  and  under  the  earth,  and  such  as  are 
in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them  heard  I  saying, 
Blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory  and  power,  be  unto  him 
that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  for- 
ever and  ever."  Rev.  6  :  18.  However  speciously  this 
is  used,  no  text  is  really  more  foreign  to  the  purpose. 
It  does  not  bear  on  the  question ;  and  even  Universal- 
ist writers*  have  rebuked  each  other  for  inconsistency 
in  citing  it.  But  they  continue  the  practice  down  to 
the  present  time.f 

The  connexion  is  this :  John  saw  in  vision,  the  seal- 
ed book  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  containing  the 
future  destiny  of  Christ's  church  on  earth,  and  wept 
because  none  was  able  to  open  it.  At  length,  the 
Lamb  that  was  slain  took  the  book  :  and  as  he  was 
about  to  break  the  seals,  all  heaven  and  earth  resound 
with  joy.  The  Revelator  first  beholds  the  four  beasts 
and  four-and-twenty  elders,  break  forth  in  songs  ;  then 
all  the  angels  take  it  up  ;  and.  in  bold  figure,  he  repre- 
sents all  the  universe  as  echoing  the   joy; — "Every 

*  H.  Ballon,  2nd,  and  Rey.  Mr.  Sturyer;  quoted  in  George  on  Univ. 
p.  58. 

+  See  Univ.  "  Tracts,"  by  A.  C.  Thomas  and  T.  B.  Thayer,  1856, 
p.  10. 


PEEVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  129 

creature'''' — not  all  men — all  created  things,  rational 
and  irrational,  animate  and  inanimate,  including  those 
"  under  the  earth  and  in  the  sea,"  join  the  joy  and 
praise.  The  thing  which  is  proclaimed  in  Psalm  148th, 
(and  other  passages)  where  "  dragons  and  all  deeps, 
beasts  and  all  cattle,  creeping  things  and  all  fowl,"  are 
called  on  to  praise  the  Lord,  is  here  represented  as  ful- 
filled ;  and  they  all  seem  vocal  with  the  praise  of  God 
and  the  Lamb,  in  sympathy  with  heaven.  Neither  the 
connexion  of  the  passage  nor  its  particular  expressions, 
permit  it  to  be  applied  to  the  final  salvation  of  all  men 
in  heaven. 

Number  93  quotes  Rev.  15  :  4,  "  for  all  nations  shall 
come  and  worship  before  thee," — one  of  the  many 
declarations  of  the  wide  extent  of  Christ's  kingdom  on 
earth  in  the  latter  days. 

Numbers  94  and  95  quote,  separately,  two  consecu- 
tive verses.  "  And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  heaven, 
saying,  Behold  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men, 
and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his 
people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be 
their  God.  And  God  shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from 
their  eyes  ;  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death,  neither 
sorrow  nor  crying,  neither  shall  there  be  any  more 
pain  ;  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away."  Rev. 
21 :  3j  4.  But  of  whom  is  this  predicated  ?  Here,  the 
author  of  the  Plain  Guide,  and  the  author  of  the  Book 
of  Revelation,  disagree  ;  the  former  refers  it  to  all  men, 
the  inspired  writer  predicates  it  only  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  "  New  Jerusalem." 

Three  verses  further,  the  sacred  writer  affirms,  "  he 
that  overcometh  shall  inherit  all  things,  and  I  will  be 

9 


130  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

his  God  and  he  shall  be  my  son.  But  the  fearful  and 
unbelieving,  and  the  abominable,  and  murderers,  and 
whoremongers,  and  sorcerers,  and  idolaters  and  all 
liars,  shall  have  their  part  in  the  lake  which  burnetii 
with  fire  and  brimstone ;  which  is  the  second  death." 

Number  96  alludes  again  to  the  exhortation  to  pray 
for  all  men,  specifying  "  kings  and  all  that  are  in 
authority,"  and  quotes  also  the  passages,  "  if  we  ask 
anything  according  to  his  will  he  heareth  us,"  1  John 
5  :  14  ;  and, "  the  desire  of  the  righteous  shall  be  grant- 
ed," Prov.  10 :  24.  Such  an  argument  for  the  final 
salvationof  all  men,  does  not  even  require  a  passing 
notice. 

Number  97.  "  In  whom  believing  ye  rejoice  with 
joy  unspeakable,  and  full  of  glory."  il  Peter  1:8.  As 
the  hearer  would  never  guess  the  point  of  this  quota- 
tion, I  would  inform  him  that  the  argument  is  this : 
the  believer  in  Christ  could  not  thus  rejoice,  if  all  men 
were  not  to  be  saved.  And  this  is  "  evidence  from  the 
Scriptures  "  for  the  final  salvation  of  all  men ! 

Numbers  98  and  99  neither  quote  nor  refer  to  any 
passages  of  Scripture. 

Number  100.  "  And  when  all  things  shall  be  subdued 
unto  him,  then  shall  the  Son  also  himself  be  subject 
unto  him  that  put  all  things  under  him,  that  God  may 
be  all  in  all."  1  Cor.  15  :  28.  This  passage  is  one  of 
several  that  announce  the  final,  undisputed  sway  of 
Christ  and  God  over  willing  subjects  and  conquered 
foes.  It  does  not  declare  a  voluntary  submission  of 
all ;  the  language  of  text  and  context  clearly  implies  a 
different  subjection  of  some.  The  previous  express- 
ions, "  he  shall  have  put  down  all  rule,  and  all  author- 


PERVERSIONS  OF  SCRIPTURE.  13J. 

ity,  and  all  power ;  "  he  must  reign  till  lie  hath,  put  all 
enemies  under  his  feet,"  clearly  intimate  that  a  portion 
of  that  subjection  is  a  forced  and  not  a  voluntary  one. 
The  Mediator's  kingdom  shall  extend  till,  as  cheerful 
subjects  or  conquered,  crushed  and  despairing  foes,  all 
things  shall  be  subdued  unto  him — such  is  the  Biblical 
representation — and  then  he  will  resign  the  delegated 
Mediatorial  Kingdom,  the  one  triune  God  shall  reign 
supreme,  and  shall  be  seen  to  be  Sovereign  of  the  Uni- 
verse. 

Such,  in  its  fullest  extent,  is  the  Scripture  evidence 
adduced  by  the  advocates  of  Universalism.  It  has 
been  collected,  matured  and  revised  by  one  of  the  old- 
est living  champions  of  the  system ;  and  comprises  all 
the  "  Scripture  evidence  "  brought  forward  by  its  advo- 
cates. How  preposterous  the  attempt !  How  pitiful 
the  parade  !  How  contemptible  the  sophistry  !  Scarce- 
ly any  of  these  passages,  you  perceive,  have  even  the 
semblance  of  an  allusion  to  the  final  salvation  of  all 
men.  Nothing  could  be  further  from  the  point.  They 
declare  certain  attributes  of  God ;  the  greatness  of 
Christ's  work,  or  the  freeness  of  his  offers ;  the  ulti- 
timate  spread  and  triumph  of  the  gospel  on  earth — 
millenial  times  ;  the  blessings  and  the  prospects  of  be- 
lievers ;  or  the  final  and  open  subjugation  of  friend 
and  foe  beneath  his  sway ; — but  utter  no  word  of  final 
salvation  to  the  wicked.  And  then  what  serpent  wind- 
ings in  quotation  :  now  lopping  off  a  sentence  in  the 
middle,  lest  it  should  say  too  much ;  now  forcing 
together  fragments  from  difierent  portions  of  the  Bible, 
to  see  if  three  can  be  twisted  into  a  shape  which  no 
one  of  them  will  take  ;  now  rending  apart  four  consec- 


132  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

utive  verses,  to  frame  four  separate  arguments,  and 
applying  tliem  to  the  whole  human  family,  when  in 
fact  they  were  uttered  of  God's  OAvn  pegple ;  contin- 
ually tearing  passages  from  all  their  surroundings,  to 
pervert  them,  yea,  even  culling  a  phrase  from  the  mid- 
dle of  a  verse  to  apply  it  to  God,  when  the  text  applies 
it  to  man ;  turning  over  the  same  promise  six  different 
times  to  make  as  many  arguments — all  false  ;  quoting 
more  than  twenty  passages  concerning  Christ's  work, 
to  prove  final  salvation,  yet  denying  that  Christ's  work 
has  anything  to  do  with  our  state  in  a  future  world ; 
quoting  passages  concerning  "  eternal  life  "  and  the 
"  kingdom  of  heaven,"  for  the  same  purpose,  and  yet 
elsewhere  denying  their  reference  to  a  future  state ; 
cutting  apart  a  connected  passage  of  ten  verses,  to  re- 
fer the  middle  of  it  to  the  future  world,  and  the  begin- 
ning and  the  end  to  ancient  Jerusalem  ;  and  greedily 
pouncing  on  every  text  that  speaks  of  all  men,  all 
things,  all  nations,  to  wrench  from  it,  however  absurd- 
ly, this  soul  destroying  doctrine  : — : — how  it  reminds  us' 
of  him  who  taught  that  fatal  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil  to  our  common  mother,  in  the  garden,  and  who 
quoted  Scripture  to  our  Savior  in  the  wilderness. 

Do  not  imagine  these  things  to  be  peculiar  to  Mr. 
Whittemore.  I  have  tracked  him  closely,  for  the  rea- 
sons already  given,  and  that  it  might  not  be  said  these 
things  were  culled  from  the  whole  body  of  Universalist 
writers.  Similar  devices — many  of  the  very  same  per- 
versions, inconsistencies,  garblings  of  texts  and  ridicu- 
lous expositions,  can  be  cited  from  Hosea  Ballon,  Syl- 
vanus  Cobb,  I.  D.  Williamson,  A.  B.  Grosh^and  the 
tracts  published  by  A.  C.  Thomas  and  T.   B.   Thayer 


PERVERSIONS  OP  SCRIPTURE.  133 

during  tlie  present  year.  I  think  my  hearers  will 
admit  that  this  method  of  reasoning  is  not  unfairly  ex- 
emplified in  the  argument  of  him  who  proved  the  duty 
of  suicide,  from  Scripture,  thus :  "  Then  Judas  went 
and  hanged  himself,"  Matt.  27 :  3,  5  ;  "  go,  and  do 
thou  likewise,"  Luke  10 :  37. 

The  whole  process  is  palpably  built  on  two  supposi- 
tions, which  seem  to  be  fundamental  to  the  preaching 
of  Universalism — first,  that  the  hearers  are  singularly 
ignorant  of  the  Bible  in  its   connexions,  and,  second, 
that  they  will  not  intelligently  compare  these  teachings 
with  the  Bible,  nor  even  the  preacher  himself  at  one 
time,  with  the  same  preacher  at  another.     It  certainly 
seems  to  be  characteristic  of  the  system — no  doubt  with 
individual  exceptions — recklessly  to  bring  forward  any 
passage,  or  statement,  or  argument,  which,  it  is  suppos- 
ed, will  tell  for  the  time   being— however  unfounded, 
however  inconsistent.     Hence  the  ever-shifting  phases 
of  the  system ;  hence  the  difficulty   of  knowing  what 
it  is  at  any  one  time.     It  is  anything — it  is  everything 
— it  is  nothing, — as  the  case  requires.     It  adapts  itself 
to  the  mental  and   moral  state   of  its  willing   dupes. 
One  is  quoting  Scripture  which  another  is  affirming  to 
be  irrelevant.     Tlie  same  man  at  one  time  quotes  what 
at   another,  for  a   special   purpose,  he  discards.     He 
freely  uses   arguments   that   are  utterly  incompatible 
with   each   other   and   with   the   system  as  elsewhere 
taught,  yea,  as  taught  by  himself.     He  holds  one  thing 
to-day — perhaps  to-morrow  he  denies  it — and  the  next 
day  reaffirms.     The   whole  system  is  a  dense,  drifting 
fog,  in  which  nothing  is  fixed  but  its  fatal  darkness,  its 
deadly  delusion. 


134  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVEESALISM. 

You  are  astounded  at  the  recklessness  of  these  pro- 
cedures, and  ask  how  I  can  account  for  it.  I,  too, 
have  been  amazed  at  it.  It  seems  to  me  here  that  the 
snare  is  spread  in  sight  of  the  bird,  and  that  never  did 
cloven  foot  more  visibly  protrude,  than  in  these  deceit- 
ful handlings  of  the  word  of  God. 


LECTURE  FIFTH. 

THE  UNIVERSALIST  ARGUIVIENT,  AFFIRMATIVE.  AP- 
PEAL TO  GOD'S  ATTRIBUTES,  AND  HUMAN  PASSIONS. 

Matt.  XV:  13,  14.  But  he  answered  and  said,  Every  plant  which  my 
heavenly  Father  hath  not  planted,  shall  be  rooted  up.  Let  them 
alone :  they  be  blind  leaders  of  the  blind.  And  if  the  blind  lead 
the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch. 

I  HAVE  considered  the  Universalist  argument,  in  its 
attempts  to  restrain  the  word  of  God  from  teaching 
future  punishment,  and  to  constrain  it  into  teaching 
universal  salvation ; — and  the  failure  of  both  attempts. 
I  come  now  to  consider  those  extra-scriptural  and 
un-scriptural  considerations,  witli  which  the  system 
undertakes  to  override  the  refractory  scriptures,  and 
which  constitute  the  main  stress  of  its  seductions, — the 
blind  leading  the  blind. 

III.  The  third  poition  of  its  claims  consists  of  in- 
ferences from  the  character  and  attributes  of  God.  In 
truth,  as  you  have  perceived,  much  of  its  so-called 
scripture  reasoning,  is  merely  the  quotation  of  some 
passage  about  God's  character,  and  an  assertion  biiilt 
upon  it. 

So  far  as  reasoning  is  concerned,  this  is  the  main- 
stay of  the  whole  system : — "  God  is  love,  God  is  good, 
God  is  merciful ;  therefore  he  will  not  punish  forever. 
God  is  our  Father,  and  how  shocking  it  would  be, 
were  a  human  father  to  be  so  unrelenting!" — Who 


136  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ever  read,  heard,  or  heard  of  a  Universalist  argument 
m  which  this  did  not  form  the  crowning  and  exultant 
appeal,  the  grand  pedestal  on  which  all  its  shallow 
reasonings  and  deceitful  handlings  of  God's  word, 
rested  for  support  ?  It  is  not  what  God  says  he  will 
do  ;  but  what  they  know  he  will  do  and  he  will  not  do. 
Thus  these  men,  who  are  every  day  surprised  by  the 
conduct  of  their  fellow- men  among  whom  they  live, 
but  of  whom  they  cannot  say  certainly  what  they  may 
do  to-morrow,  understand  God  almighty  so  thoroughly, 
and  know  all  about  him  so  well,  that  they  can  tell 
what  he  will  do  through  all  eternity.  And  not  only 
so  ;  but  they  know  so  much  better  than  does  God  him- 
self, that  they  cannot  suffer  him  to  speak  for  himself. 
And  when  he  endeavors  to  speak  of  eternal  and  ever- 
lasting vengeance,  Mr.  Whittemore  stops  it  off  at  once, 
by  saying  that  where  that  word  is  applied  in  the 
scriptures  to  punishment,  it  "  should  be  restricted  to 
limited  duration."  The  thing  must  not  be  mentioned; 
— ^it  cannot  be  permitted. 

This  theme, — that  of  God's  love  and  kindred  topics, 
— is  the  theme  that  is  spread  out  like  a  screen  in  front 
of  all  their  arguments,  and  covers  their  straggling 
rear.  Thus,  Moore  and  Williamson  devote  whole 
chapters  to  this  and  kindred  themes,  before  venturing 
to*  touch  the  Scripture  argument.  And  the  one  insists 
that  we  should  start  with  this  foundation  principle, 
and  exclude  from  our  credenda  everything  that  stands 
opposed  to  it, — as,  he  says,  does  future  punishment ; 
and  the  other  says  he  is  prepared  to  reject  any  and 
every  doctrine  or  practice  that  is  opposed  to  it — as  he 
also  declares  future  punishment  to  be. 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  13T 

Now  observe,  in  the  first  place,  the  presumption  of 
such  a  bold  position,  even  were  there  no  word  from 
heaven  to  guide  us.     What  astounding  audacity,  that 
the  creature  of  yesterday,  baffled  daily  by  the  thin 
characters  and  plans  of  his  fellow-worms,  and  stumbled 
at  every  step  of  his  path  over  the  mysteries  of  God's 
world,  though  they  lie  at  his  feet,  should  set  himself 
up  as  the   infallible   interpreter  of  God's   plans    and 
doings  through  all  coming  eternity  ; — and  not  only  so, 
but  ask  his  fellows  to  risk   their  all  on  the  infallibility 
of  his  knowledge  of  the  great  and  unsearchable  One. 
And  think  you,  friend,  when  you  have  embarked  your 
soul's  hopes  for  eternity  on  Ballon  and  Whittemore's 
bold  assurances — think  you,  are  you  quite  sure,  that 
God  will    stand    bondsman  to  these  men's  promises 
through  all  eternity  ?    The  very  neighbor  by  my  side, — 
from  my  knowledge  of  his  character,  in  a  thousand 
supposable  cases  I  cannot  tell  what    definite  thing  he 
will  do  ;  much  less  a  Napoleon  or  a  Cromwell.     How 
then  can  I  speak  for  God  ?     How  his  combined  wis- 
dom and  justice  and  holiness   and  goodness, — all  of 
them  as  far  above  me  as  the  heavens  above  the  earth 
— how  these    stupendous    attributes  will    act  in  the 
greatest  emergency  of  this  complicated  Universe,  ex- 
cept as  he  informs  me,  I  no  more  can  tell,  than  I  can 
grasp  that  Universe  in  my  hand. 

And  still  more  presumptuous  and  insane,  the  at- 
tempt to  take  this  position  in  the  presence  of  God's 
word ;  and  to  control  the  very  utterances  of  God's 
word.  For  this  is  precisely  their  position,  "  First 
principles  should  govern  our  investigations."  "  God 
is  love.     In  view  of  this    simple   declaration,  which 


138  LECTUEES  ON  UNIYERSALISM. 

expresses  a  truth  universally  important,  we  should 
carefully  exclude  from  our  credenda,"  says  the  one. 
"  Love,"  says  the  other,  "  is  the  the  very  essence,  the 
life  and  soul  of  the  gospel ;  and  I  am  prepared  to 
reject  any  and  every  doctrine  and  practice,  as  anti- 
Christian,  that  is  opposed  to  this."  "  The  word  ever- 
lasting," echoes  the  third,  "  when  applied  to  punish- 
ment, ought,  above  every  other  case,  to  bear  the  sense" 
of  "  limited  duration."  That  is,  God  must  never,  in 
such  a  case,  be  permitted  to  mean  as  he  says.  Now, 
how  preposterous  to  set  up  these  inferences  from  G-od'  s 
attributes,  against  the  overwhelming  tide  of  denuncia- 
tion contained  in  God's  word.  Is  it  not  as  though 
some  piping  gnat  should  set  up  his  paltry  whine,  to 
drown  God's  voice  as  he  thunders  in  the  heavens, — as 
though  some  petty  bulrush  should  lift  up  its  head  to 
stop  the  course  of  God's  great  cataract,  as  it  mightily 
heaves  itself  over  its  rocky  rampart,  in  ceaseless  flow  ! 
It  is  insane.  It  is  Hosea  Ballou  and  Thomas  Whitte- 
more  trying  to  muzzle  God  Almighty  ! 

But  the  position  that  we  are  safe  by  reason  of  God's 
love,  rises  to  absolute  madness  in  the  presence  of  God's 
providence.  It  flies  in  the  face  of  his  daily  dealings. 
It  is  idle  to  declaim  that  God's  love,  conjoined  with  his 
wisdom  and  his  power,  must — yes  must  is  the  word — 
must  finally  exclude  all  sin  and  suffering  from  the 
Universe, — in  presence  of  the  appalling  fact  that  God's 
love  and  power  did  not  exclude  it  from  his  Universe  at 
first.  There  would  seem  reasons  of  tenfold  strength, 
why  He  should  never  have  suffered  sin  and  sorrow  to 
come  where  all  was  peace  ;  and,  but  for  the  fact,  who 
would  not  have  said  it  was,  from  the  nature  of  God, 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  139 

impossible  ?  But  He  has  suffered  it ;  and  has  shown 
us  how  unsearchable  are  his  ways, — how  little  we 
know  him.  We  know  of  his  plans  only  what  he  tells 
us.  Sin  and  sorrow  came  into  a  universe  at  peace. 
They  are  here.  And  in  view  of  that  fact,  all  our 
arguings  about  their  departure,  are  ground  into  dust, 
and  blown  to  the  winds.  Six  thousand  years  has  God 
looked  calmly  down,  while  the  wail  of  guilt  and  woe 
from  hundreds  of  millions  of  human  beings,  has  been 
continually  ascending  before  his  presence  ; — and  who 
can  tell  us  when  it  shall  have  an  end  ? 

It  is  vain  to  tell  us  that  God  is  our  Father,  and  that 
because  a  human  father  would  not  do  so  and  so,  there- 
fore God  will  not  do  it.  The  crash  of  the  earthcpiake, 
the  dirge  of  the  pestilence,  the  moan  of  starvation,  the 
groan  of  disease,  the  cry  of  desolation,  break  on  our 
ear  in  discords  of  anguish,  and  give  the  lie  to  the 
assertion.  The  human  frame  has  sometimes  fainted 
at  the  mere  sight,  and  the  human  spirit  lost  its  balance 
in  the  prospect,  of  single  insfances  of  the  suffering 
which  God  calmly  beholds,  yea,  and  sends  from  the 
heavens  in  myriad  numbers,  day  and  night,  through 
all  time.  God  is  our  Father ;  but  these  plain  facts 
show  that  he  is  as  different  from  a  human  father,  as  a 
holy  God  is  from  a  sinful  man.  "  Would  a  father  on 
earth  consign  his  children  to  poverty,  shame,  sickness, 
loss  of  reason,  and  death  attended  with  the  most 
afflicting  circumstances  ?  Would  a  father  on  eartli 
choose  to  plunge  his  children  in  the  ocean,  and  leave 
them  to  the  mercy  of  the  tempest  ?  Would  he  set  a 
child's  house  on  fire,  while  he  was  buried  in  soft 
slumber,  and  consume  him  in  the  flames  ?"*     Yet  so 

*  Parker's  Lectures,  p.  46. 


140  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

does  our  merciful  Father.     I  find  I  cannot  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  God's  goodness  and  its  modes  of  action.     The 
ruin  of  this  world  is  quite  as  inexplicable  to  me,  as  the 
ruin  which  shall  follow  if  the  oifers  of  rescue  are  re- 
jected.    Indeed,  these  offers  of  rescue  relieve  my  mind 
of  all  difficulty  in  regard  to  those  who  reject  them. 
When  God  has  mercifully  interfered,  and  in  melting 
tones   entreated  the  sinner  to  accept   deliverance, — 
solemnly  warning  him  on  the  word  of  his  God,  of 
the  consequences  of  refusal, — I  cannot  but  feel  that 
here,  at  least,  every  difficulty  is  cleared  up.     Good- 
ness is  satisfied.     It  is  enough.     If  the    sinner  will 
spurn  the  offer,  impartial  goodness  as  well  as  justice 
may  even   require,  for   aught   I   can   say,  that   God 
should  protect  his  children  by  the  penalty  and  the 
impassable    barrier.      It  is   not   impartial    goodness, 
to   waste  all   our   kind  efforts   on   those  that   spurn 
them,  and  leave  the  grateful  and  obedient  exposed, 
— to   foster  the   wolf   at   the   flock's   expense.      Not 
only  justice,  but  even  goodness  to  a   whole  universe 
that  looks  to  God  for  safety,  may  require  the  great 
Shepherd  at  last  to  smite  the  wolf  with  a  remediless 
wound,  for  the  safety  of  the  flock.     And  when  he  pro- 
claims it  to  be  so,  there  is  nothing  in  the  exhibition  of 
his  goodness  here  to  invalidate  the  statement ;  while,  in 
the  dreadful  shades  of  sin  and  misery  with  which  God 
has  suffered  this  world  for  six  thousand  years  to  be 
draped,  I  read  flat  contradiction  of  every  assertion  that 
is  founded  on  the  goodness  of  God,  against  the  sin  and 
miser}  of  the  world  to  come. 

Is  it  said,  God  cannot  suffer  such  a  waste  of  the 
,  human  family  ?     I  answer,  cast  your  eyes  over  the 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULLED.  141 

world  and  see  how  the  vast  majority  of  the  race  are 
even  now  suffered  to  waste  themselves  as  men ;  how 
few,  how  very  few,  attain  the  true  moral  or  even  intel- 
lectual standard  of  one  made  in  God's  image ;  and 
how  many  make  wreck  of  all  their  humanity.  Yet 
God  suffers  it  to  be  so. 

Am  I  told  that  sin  is  not  a  sufficient  evil  to  entail 
such  enormous  consequences  ?  I  point  you  back  to  a 
single  sin  in  an  Eastern  garden,  long  ago,  that  brought 
death  into  the  world  and  all  our  woe,— that  for  six 
thousand  years  has  scattered  its  bitter  fruits,  from  that 
Asiatic  garden  through  all  lands  of  the  earth,  and  down 
through  all  tiuiC. 

Do  you  say  the  time  of  future  punishment  is  out  of 
all  proportion  to  the  duration  of  the  sin  ?  I  answer, 
"  the  atrocity  of  a  crime  depends  on  the  importance  of 
the  law,  and  the  sacredness  of  the  authority  that  is 
violated,  and  not  at  all  on  the  length  of  time  occupied  in 
its  perpetration."*  A  man  may  earn  an  imprisonment 
of  fifty  years  in  the  same  length  of  time  as  a  dollar 
fine.  Even  in  this  world  of  imperfect  retribution,  is 
the  punishment  no  more  enduring  than  the  sin  ? — or 
do  men  sometimes  in  an  hour,  commit  iniquities  from 
which  through  life  they  never  recover  ?  Has  not  the 
sin  of  a  moment  sometimes  made  a  man  a  wanderer 
and  an  outcast  all  his  days  ? 

And  remember  too,  that  they  who  do  not  in  this  life 
repent  of  sin,  sin  on  forever.     Transgression  goes  on 
.  coeval  with  penalty.     Sin  begets  sin.     It  forever  re- 
news itself,  and  swells  its  curse.     The  process  rolls  on. 
Sin  and  misery  go,  hand  in  hand,  down  the  dark  vale 

*Ib.  p.  41. 


142  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

of  eternal  horror.  Thus  even  in  the  present  hfe, — pro- 
bationary though  it  be, — in  our  ■  great  cities,  some 
unfortunate  creature  of  guilt  and  shame,  by  one  sad 
lapse  begins  to  drain  all  the  bitter  dregs  of  a  downward 
life.  By  a  kind  of  necessity,  which  yet  involves  her 
own  free  choice,  she  throws  herself  further  and  further 
from  the  path  of  virtue  and  of  peace ;  she  becomes 
more  deeply,  desperately  sinful  and  forlorn,  and  the 
way  of  return  shuts  more  hopelessly  on  her  view,  as 
she  goes  sinking,  still  sinking  in  sin  and  micery,  till 
she  closes  a  scene  of  earthly  woe  and  despair,  known 
only  to  herself  and  God, — the  very  vestibule  of  infinite 
misery.  Such  is  no  doubt  the  natural  course  of  all 
sin, — unless  supernaturally  arrested  by  the  grace  of 
God.  Our  God,  in  his  great  mercy,  has  interposed  mz^ 
this  tvo?'ld,  to  suspend  the  doom  and  arrest  the  ruin. 
Suffering  has  no  reformatory  power,  but  in  a  world  of 
grace  and  spiritual  help.  Here,  God  gives  the  needed 
help.  Now  is  the  time  to  escape  the  doom.  We  are 
passing  the  only  spot  in  our  endless  journey, — this  lit- 
tle life, — where  the  hand  from  Heaven  reaches  down 
to  our  aid.  Reject  that  proffered  hand  throughout  this 
life,  and  it  reaches  down  no  more  ;  it  leaves  us  to  jour- 
ney on  evermore  in  sin  and  sorrow.  So  hath  he  told 
lis  plainly, — and  God  knows  his  own  mindj  he  is  not 
man  that  he  should  lie,  nor  the  son  of  man  that  he 
should  repent.  • 

Does  the  objector  now  turn  and  say  that  God's  pun- 
ishment always  attends  on  the  offence,  and  the  threat- 
ened transfer  to  distant  times  and  places  cannot  be 
true  ?  I  answer  again,  look  around  you  in  this  life, 
and  see  also  how  continually  God  is   so   dealing  with 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULLED.  143 

men  here — delaying  vengeance  ;  how  their  sin  often 
finds  them  out  away  from  its  early  home.  Think  of 
such  instances  as  his, — that  man  of  learning,  fair  fame, 
and  otherwise  of  moral  life,  whose  one  great  crime  lay 
hid  for  fourteen  years,  while  he  was  enjoying  the 
esteem  of  his  fellow-men ;  then  found  him  out  and 
dragged  him  to  the  scaffold.  Recall  those  cases,  where 
the  sins  of  a  man's  youth  have  haunted  him  to  distant 
lands,  and  burst  upon  him  in  his  old  age,  to  bring  him 
to  his  grave  in  ignominy. 

Nor  will  it  avail  to  maintain  that  as  God  is  love,  all 
his  punishments  must  be  remedial  and  reformatory, — 
and  that  above  all,  they  never  can  be  remediless  and 
hopeless.  The  facts  of  Providence  put  their  unan- 
swerable negative  on  this  assertion.  Such  is  not  God's 
love  in  this  life, — except  to  his  loving  friends.  It  is 
not  so.  How  many  a  crime,  with  its  penalty,  leaves  a 
man  woi'se  off  than  before,  his  recovery  far  more  diffi- 
cult and  unlikely.  This  is  commonly  the  case  with 
the  greater  crimes.  Not  only  is  the  spirit  hardened  by 
the  punishment,  but  the  path  of  recovery  is  hedged 
up,  and  the  criminal  goes  on  sinking  deeper  at  every 
step.  Even  under  their  castigations,  evil  men  and 
seducers  wax  worse  and  worse,  and  their  case  grows 
more  desperate.  The  man  is,  bij  the  very  course  of  Prov- 
idence^ branded  and  outlawed  \yj  his  punishments,  and 
sink's  down,  feeling  that  his  case  is  hopeless, — that  it  is 
too  late,  too  late ;  and  sometimes  no  persuasion  can 
remove  the  sullen  despair.  Benedict  Arnold  and 
Aaron  Burr,  and  many  a  criminal  and  prostitute  in  our 
cities,  have  found  no  place  for  repentance.  And  many 
a  course  of  vice   has  been   visited  with   disease,  from 


144  LECTURES   ON   UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

which  repentance  could  bring  no  remedy  ;  and  happi- 
ness and  life  have  worn  away  in  siiifering  and  despair. 
So  far  as  this  life  is  concerned,  God  often  inflicts  remed- 
iless woe.  The  truth  is,  God  puts  men  on  trial  here  ; 
and  often  the  earlier  are  to  the  later  portions  of  this 
present  life,  in  a  less  degree,  as  he  has  threatened  that 
the  present  life  shall  be  to  the  world  to  come.  He  sets 
life  and  death  before  us,  bidding  us  choose  life.  But 
if  we  will  spurn  his  advice,  he  lets  us  reap  the  conse- 
quences ;  and  he  will  not  interpose.  He  trifles  not. 
And  if  the  bed  prove  shorter,  at  last,  "  than  that  a 
man  can  stretch  himself  thereon,  and  the  covering 
narrower  than  that  he  can  wrap  himself  therewith,"  i^ 
is  the  bed  which  the  man  made  for  himself,  against 
God's  remonstrances.  In  it  shall  he  lie  ;  and  the  Uni- 
verse shall  feel  the  justice  of  God.  He  brought  his 
fate,  forewarned,  upon  himself. — So  the  path  to  heaven 
and  the  road  to  hell  are  pointed  out.  God  solemnly' 
warns  his  creature  that  he  is  making  his  final  choice  ; 
urges  him  to  heaven  by  all  that  is  winning  and  all  that 
is  fearful :  then  suffers  him  to  take  and  drink  his  cho- 
sen cup, — though  he  drain  it  to  the  dregs. 

Against  these  solemn  truths  I  not  long  since  heard 
the  following  preposterous  assertion  :  that  "  no  matter 
if  the  man  did  rush  upon  his  fate  ;  God  was  bound  to 
prevent  his  misery,  if  he  had  the  power.  That  if  a 
man  sees  another  drowning,  he  is  bound  to  rescue  him 
at  all  hazards,  even  though  the  other  wish  to  drown. 
We  condemn  him  if  he  do  not.  So  God  must  do  to 
the  perishing  sinner,  or  he  is  unworthy  of  our  love." 
And  a  great  appeal  was  made  to  our  human  sensibili- 
ties against  a  Being  who   could  witness    such  terrible 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  145 

sufferings  and  not  relieve  them.  And  I  thought,  where 
can  this  declaimer  have  lived  all  his  lifetime,  that  he 
can  so  madly  assert  what  every  day's  observation  filatly 
contradicts  ?  And  in  the  midst  of  the  bold  statement 
that  because  human  sensibilities  are  overwhelmed  at 
the  sight  of  great  anguish,  even  so  must  be  God's, — 
my  thoughts  wandered  to  those  fearful  facts  furnished 
by  the  records  of  medical  science,  in  which  God  has 
visited  vice  with  lingering  disease,  that  burnt  like  a 
fire  in  the  bones,  devoured  the  frame  by  inches,  made 
the  victim  an  object  of  horror  to  his  friends,  and  for 
weeks  or  months  was  dragging  him  to  the  grave  through 
such  ceaseless,  intolerable  anguish,  as  I  could  not  have 
seen  inflicted  on  my  worst  enemy  for  an  hour.  And  I 
thdught  also  of  a  very  different  case — the  sufferings  of 
one  who  died  a  few  years  since  in  Salem,  Mass.*  A 
visitor  in  1845,  described  her  thus :  "  The  room  was 
so  dark  that  before  my  eyes  were  accommodated  to  the 
change,  I  could  only  see  a  figure  dressed  in  white,  sit- 
ting upon  the  bed  and  rocking  to  and  fro.  This  motion 
was  attended  by  a  sound  like  the  click  of  wooden 
machinery,  which  arose,  as  I  afterwards  discovered, 
from  the  bones  as  they  worked  in  their  loosened 
sockets.  She  had  just  given  me  her  hand,  when  a 
spasm  seized  her,  and  it  was  twitched  suddenly  from 
my  grasp.  It  flew  some  four  or  five  times  with  the 
greatest  violence  against  her;  and,  with  a  sound  which 
I  can  only  compare  to  that  made  by  a  child  who  has 
been  sobbing  a  long  time,  in  catching  its  breath,  she 
threw  up  both  her  arms,  and  with  a  deep,  guttural 
groan  was  flung  back  upon  her  pillow,  with  a  force 

*  Miss  Sarah  Parbeck. 
10 


146  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALIS M. 

inconceivable  to  one  who  had  not  witnessed  it.  The 
instant  she  touched  the  bed,  she  uttered  that  piercing 
shriek  again,  and  sprang  back  to  her  former  position, 
rocking  to  and  fro,  with  those  quick,  heart-rending 
groans,  which  I  had  heard  while  standing  at  the  door. 
It  was  several  minutes  before  she  could  speak ;  and 
then  there  was  none  to  answer.  Both  my  companion 
and  myself  were  choked  with  tears.  I  became  faint, 
and  trembled  with  sudden  weakness ;  a  cold  perspira- 
tion stood  on  my  face.  The  objects  in  the  room  began 
to  swim  around  me,  and  I  was  obliged  to  take  hold  of 

the  bedside  for  support She  afterwards  told  me,  as 

if  in  apology  for  her  screams,  that  when  she  was  hurled 
back  upon  her  pillow,  both  shoulders  were  dislocated, 
and  as  they  sprang  back  into  their  sockets,  the  pain 
was  beyond  endurance  and  extorted  from  her  those 
shrieks.  Her  sentences  were  broken,  uttered  with 
much  difficulty,  and  frequently  interrupted  by  the 
terrible  spasm  I  have  described  above.  Yet  this  was 
her  quiet  state  ;  this  the  time  when  she  suffered  least. 
Day  after  day, night  after  night,  '■'■  fourteen  weary  years''' 
then  had  "  dragged  themselves  along,  whilst  her  poor 
body  had  been  thus  racked."  No  relief,  no  hope  of 
relief  except  that  which  death  should  give.  And  that 
relief,  1  think,  was  deferred  for  some  years  longer. 
Yet  she  was  then  and  habitually  in  a  heavenly  state 
of  mind ;  and  I  know  not  that  this  suffering  was  the 
fruit  of  any  peculiar  transgression  of  hers ;  but  only 
part  of  the  general  woe  that  sin  has  brought  into  our 
world.     Think  upon  that  trying  scene  and  ponder. 

Listen  to  the  incessant  whimper  and  howl  of  Uni- 
versalism,  that  God  will    relent    because  he   is   our 


THE   SCKIPTURES   OVERRULED.  147 

Father,  and  the  punishments  he  threatens  shock  all 
the  sensibilities  of  a  human  parent ; — and  then  hold 
up  beside  it  such  appalling /«c^5.  What  human  father, 
if  in  his  power  to  relieve,  would  have  permitted  that 
suffering  a  year — a  week — a  day — an  hour — a  minute  ? 
It  broke  down  the  stranger's  heart  in  an  instant.  But 
year  after  year,  God,  our  Father,  looked  qviietly  on 
and  relieved  it  not.  Listen  to  the  audacious  assertion 
that  God  is  bound  to  relieve  the  suffering  even  of  him 
who  recklessly  and  willfully  rushes  on  his  doom; — 
and  then  gaze  on  this  scene  where  even  the  loving 
child  of  God,  by  reason  of  her  participation  in  the 
common  guilt  and  curse  of  sin,  though  now  herself  a 
penitent,  lay  racked  with  such  intolerable  anguish,  as 
caused  the  cold  sweat  to  stand  on  the  stranger's  brow 
to  see,  and  as  shocks  all  your  sensibilities  to  hear, — 
while  for  years  and  years,  that  seemed  ages  to  her, 
God  did  not  relieve  her  by  cure  nor  even  by  death. 
No ;  nor  would  he  suffer  the  friends  around  to  stop 
those  sufferings,  though  one  grain  of  strychnine  would 
have  done  the  work  forever.  Now,  it  seems  that  God 
can  and  does  lay  even  on  the  penitent  sinner,  a  load  of 
protracted  anguish,  that  could  weary  out  the  sensi- 
bilities of  a  whole  world  of  human  parents.  It  is  a 
portentous  presage  of  the  awful  penalty  which,  not- 
withstanding the  recoil  of  perverted  sensibilities,  he 
may  inflict  on  the  impenitent  sinner,  who,  against  all 
God's  warnings  and  entreaties,  shall  have  rushed  on 
his  fate  ; — and  of  the  calm,  unyielding.  Godlike  perse- 
verance with  which  He  that  is  not  a  man  that  he  should 
lie,  neither  the  son  of  man  that  he  should  repent,  will 
fulfill  every  threat  that  he  has  uttered,  however  dis- 


148  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

tressing  to  the  contemplation.  Such  facts,  a  great 
multitude  of  them,  of  which  the  world  is  full,  grind  into 
atoms  all  this  declamation  about  God,  drawn  from  the 
case  of  human  parents  and  human  relentings.  In  the 
presence  of  such  facts,  as  well  as  the  threats  of  God's 
word,  they  stand  rebuked  as  the  ravings  of  lunacy, 
and  almost  the  drivellings  of  idiocy. 

So  manifestly  futile  are  these  reasonings  of  Univers- 
alism,  whether  concerning  the  Scriptures  or  the  char- 
acter of  God, — so  transparent  are  their  sophistries  to 
the  enlightened  mind,  that  we  find,  at  length, 

IV.  Its  most  effective  appliance  is  its  appeal  to  the 
sympathies,  principles,  and  passions  of  impenitent  men. 
Here  is  its  stronghold.  Here,  the  tribunal  to  which  it 
brings  its  decisive  appeal. 

When  all  else  is  unavailing, — when  Scripture  proves 
intractable,  and  reasonings  about  God's -mercy  break 
down  before  the  facts  of  God's  providence, — Univers- 
alism  has  one  resort  that,  with  a  considerable  class  of 
men,  will  seldom  fail.  .  It  carries  its  case  down  to  the 
desires  of  the  sinful  heart:  it  appeals  to  human  deprav- 
ity. In  the  fallen  soul  it  finds  a  strong  ally.  Accord- 
ingly, we  need  not  expect  that  this  chosen  belief  of  the 
sin-loving  heart  will  die  out  wholly  from  the  earth,  till 
the  heart's  love  of  sin  dies  out. 

"  Is  not  the  doctrine  of  eternal  misery,"  exclaims 
the  Universalist  preacher  to  his  congregation,  "  a  hor- 
rible and  a  frightful  doctrine  ?  Does  it  not  make  your 
blood  run  cold  ?"  Doubtless  it  is  both  frightful  and 
frightening  to  very  many  in  his  audience.  Certainly 
it  is  alarming  to  those  who  are  lovers  of  pleasure  more 
than  of  God,  to  the  Sabbath-breaker,  the  drunkard,  the 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  149 

profane,  the  adulterer,  the  rum-seller,  the  fraudulent 
dealer ;  jes,  and  to  all  "whose  hearts  are  bent  on  reject- 
ing Christ,  and  living  wholly  for  this  world.  It  has 
personal  terrors  to  them  all.  Therefore  many  of  these 
persons  on  the  Sabbath  flock  to  hear  some  man  who 
shall  boldly  deny  that  "  frightful "  truth,  and  give 
them  comfort  in  their  chosen  schemes  for  the  week  to 
come.  They  come  for  their  weekly  anodyne,  to  quiet 
the  sting  of  sin.  But  the  doctrine  had  no  personal 
terrors  for  Edwards  or  Payson  or  Brainerd  or  Judson, 
— however  much  they  might  deplore  the  folly  of  those 
who  would  rush  upon  their  fate. 

"  My  brethren,"  saysHosea  Ballou,*  "  there  is  peace 
in  believing  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  is  there 
any  peace  or  joy  in  believing  in  this  doctrine  of  never- 
ending  misery  ?  There  surely  is  not."  And  very 
possibly  one  general  "  Amen "  in  the  hearts  of  his 
hearers,  may  have  echoed  the  experience  of  the  speak- 
er. Doubtless  the  doctrine  disturbed  their  quiet. 
And  the  case,  as  he  puts  it,  well  illustrates  the  differ- 
ence between  the  peace  of  the  believer  and  that  of  the 
modern  Universalist.  The  true  believer  has  a  peace 
in  believing-, — belie'V'ing  in  Christ — a  joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost ; — the  Universalist  finds  a  peace  which  depends 
on  disbelieving  the  doctrine  of  eyidless  misery.  The 
case  is  well  put.  An  Edwards,  notwithstanding  his 
^dews  of  God's  holiness  and  awful  justice,  could  enjoy 
a  heavenly  peace,  contemplations  of  God  and  his  glory, 
which,  he  tells  us,  were  "  sweet  beyond  all  expression;" 


*  Lect.   Serm.,  p.  102.     The  reader  will  observe  the  characteristic 
sopliism  in  the  double  meaning  of  the  word  "  believing." 


150  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

he  could  live  in  a  state  of  joy  unspeakable :  yet,  to 
Ballon  and  Whittemore  and  Thayer  and  Thomas  and 
Williamson,  there  can  be  no  "  peace  nor  joy,"  unless 
future  punishment  can  be  cast  aside.*  And  to  this 
rooted  desire  of  every  godless  soul, — to  this  over- 
whelming interest  and  sympathy  of  sin,  do  these 
writers  and  preachers  continually  present  their  case 
with  triumphant  air.  "  Would  you  do  so  ?  Would 
you  desire  it  be  so  ?  Is  it  pleasant  to  you  to  contem- 
plate ?" — are  questions  which  they  put  with  as  much 
gravity  to  their  audience,  as  though  every  soul  in  that 
miscellaneous  group  were  a  bosom-friend  of  Jesus 
Christ,  a  sharer  in  all  the  sympathies  and  a  chief- 
counsellor  of  the  holy  God. 

"  If  you  had  the  requisite  power,"  inquires  Rev.  A. 
C.  Thomas,  "  would  you  not  deliver  the  whole  family 
of  man  from  sin  and  misery  ?  If  you  were  the  final 
judge  of  all,  would  you  doom  a  single  soul  to  endless 
woe  ?"  And  again  :  "  Can  you  join  heartily  the  an- 
gelic host  in  singing,  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest !' 
without  believing  in  the  salvation  of  the  whole  family 
of  man  ?"  Again  he  says :  "  Can  you  heartily  adore 
the  Being  who,  you  believe,  will  doom  some  of  man- 
kind to  never-ending  woe  ?  You  cannot.  I  know  you 
cannot."*  Doubtless  this  writer  understands  the  class 
of  characters  to  which  his  appeal  is  made,  and  can 
safely  vouch  for  them.  There  are  many  men  of 
whom  he  can  safely  say  they  cannot,  he  knows  they 


*  See  Wliittemore's  Plain  Guide,  p.  51,  argument  85 ;  Thomas  & 
Thayer's  Tracts  for  the  People,  1856,  pp.  4,  16,  20,  etc.;  End.  Pun. 
Exp.,  p.  31. 

t  Tracts  etc.,  pp.  3,  4,  14. 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  151 

cannot,  adore  a  God  of  holiness  and  justice, — a  God 
threatening  future  punishment  to  the  wicked.  Such 
men  can  very  easily  be  found.  They  can  be  found  in 
a  great  many  places  where  the  name  of  God  is  often 
heard — but  not  in  tones  of  "  adoration."  But  such 
men's  feelings  are  no  very  reliable  criterion  of  the 
feelings  and  character  of  God,  They  now  believe,  or 
try  to  believe,  that  God  will  save  all  men  alike ;  yet 
the  place  where  they  are  accustomed  to  "  adore  "  him 
is  not  known. 

It  is  a  very  frail  reliance,  to  rest  one's  hope  on  the 
supposition  that  God's  views  of  sin  and  holiness  are 
much  the  same  with  the  average  views  of  those  who 
listen  eagerly  to  the  preaching  of  Universalism.  There 
have  been  men,  and  that,  too,  a  great  host  of  the  best 
and  most  devotional  men  that  the  world  has  seen,  who 
could  both  believe  this  doctrine  and  adore  the  God 
who  declares  it, — who  have  gone  loving,  and  rejoicing, 
and  obeying,  and  adoring  through  the  world,  and  have 
left  a  track  of  heavenly  light  behind  them, — who  have 
manifestly  communed  with  God  below,  and  beyond  all 
question  gone  to  "join  the  angelic  host"  and  com- 
mune with  Him  on  high.  Not  to  such  men  could  this 
preacher  say,  "  I  know  you  cannot  heartily  adore  the 
Being,  who,  you  believe,  will  doom  some  of  mankind 
to  never-ending  woe."  No ;  he  speaks  to,  and  he 
speaks  for,  a  very  different  class  of  men — many  of 
whom,  he  not  only  knows  cannot  heartily  adore  an 
avenging  God,  but  knows  equally  well  that  they  do 
not  now  heartily  adore  any  God  at  all.  It  is  to  such 
a  quarter  the  appeal  is  carried ;  and  there  God's  word 
is  overruled. 


152  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Sometimes  the  hearer's  very  sinfulness  and  love  of 
sin  are  ajjpealed  to,  not  obscurely,  as  a  pressing  reason 
for  disbelieving  endless  punishment.  Says  Rev.  T.  B. 
Thayer,  of  Lowell :  "  Consider  all  the  loeaknesses  and 
imperfections  of  poor  human  nature,  and  all  the  temp- 
tations with  which  it  is  tried  from  without  and  within ; 
consider  also  the  many  painful  struggles,  the  many  pe- 
riods of  keen  suffering  endured  in  this  life  ;  and  then 
add  to  all  this,  that  the  life  which  is  to  follow  is  to  be 
one  of  unvarying  and  interminable  suffering — and  can 
you  believe  it  just  and  merciful  and  right  ?  Remem- 
ber how  little  a  thing  is  the  sum  of  life,  and  how  great 
a  thing  is  eternity  ....  How  absolutely  horrible  and 
frightful  is  the  thought,  that  the  faults  and  follies  of 
this  moment  of  existence  are  to  be  visited  with  indes- 
cribable woe  and  torment,  sweeping  over  us  in  a  cease- 
less tide  of  utter  and  hopeless  desolation,  on  and  forever 
on  in  the  never-ending  roll  of  ages  !  and  this  permitted, 
inflicted  by  God,  a  just  God,  and  a  Father !  Once 
more,  can  you  believe  it  ?"*  There  you  have  the  appeal 
almost  in  its  nakedness  ;  sin  is  melted  down  to  "  weak- 
ness, imperfections,  faults  and  follies,"  excused  by  its 
"  temptations  "  and  hardships  here  ;  its  terrific  doom 
set  forth  in  words  not  one  whit  more  "  frightful "  than 
those  which  God  employs — and  then  what  is  the  con- 
clusion ?  Is  it, — "  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come," — es- 
cape the  terror, — abandon  your  sins  and  be  safe  in 
Christ  ? — No,  no  ;  the  cry  is,  "  can  you  believe  it  ?" 
Believe  it  not ;  care  not  for  it ;  dismiss  your  fears ;  go 
on  unconcerned.     You   are  weak,  and  imperfect,  and 


*  Tracts  for  the  people,  p.  19. 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  153 

tempted,  and  prone  to  faults  and  follies  ; — discard  the 
horrible  and  "  frightful  doctrine." 

In  the  same  strain,  Rev.  A.  C.  Thomas,  on  the  ground 
that  idiots,  not  being  accountable,  cannot  be  in  danger 
of  punishment,  directly  appeals  to  his  readers  whether, 
if  the  choice  were  given  them,  they  would  nOt  prefer 
idiocy  for  life,  with  its  exemption  from  danger,  to  the 
possession  of  reason  with  "  the  mere  possibility  of  an 
eternity  of  misery."  He  answers  his  own  question, 
"  plainly  thou  wouldest  choose  idiocy."*  And  William- 
son, as  we  have  seen,  declares, — "  had  it  been  left  to 
my  choice,  I  would  not  for  worlds  have  accepted  the 
gift  of  life,  even  with  the  possibility  of  its  coming  to 
such  a  horrid  catastrophe."!  In  other  words,  this  ar- 
gument— for  argument  it  claims  to  be — is  a  pressing 
plea  for  the  rejection  of  the  doctrine,  founded  on  men's 
intense  love  of  sin — a  love  so  mad,  that  rather  than 
repent  and  obey  God,  and  thus  make  sv.re  of  eternal 
life,  it  would  prefer  idiocy  or  annihilation  !  For  ob- 
serve, the  choice  proposed  is  not  between  idiocy  or 
extinction,  and  the  necessity  of  punishment, — but  "the 
mere  possibility''^  of  it,  with  every  opportunity  to 
escape  by  turning  unto  God.  The  way  is  open.  Clirist 
has  died  to  save  the  sinner.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  ready 
to  help  him  to  heaven.  God  the  Father  calls,  "  Who- 
soever will,  let  him  come." And  yet   here  comes  a 

pretended  preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  urges  tlie  sinner 
by  that  very  opposition  to  G©d,  so  intense  as  to  prefer 
idiocy  or  extinction  to  eternal  life  on  condition  of 
faith,  repentance  and  obedience, — urges  him,  I  say,  by 

\ 

*  Tracts,  p.  16.     t  End.  Pun.,  Ex.  p.  31. 


154  LECTUEES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

the  very  intensity  of  that  opposition,  to  cast  off  all  fear 
before  God,  and  defy  the  plain  warnings  of  God's 
word. 

This  is  the  mode  in  which  sinful  men  are  made  to 
feel  that  while  cleaving  inflexibly,  as  they  now  do,  to 
the  love  and  practice  of  sin,  tremendous  interests  com- 
pel them  to  spurn  the  doctrine  of  future  retribution. 
Instead  of  pressing  them  to  renounce  their  sins,  the 
preacher  presses  them  to  renounce  that  doctrine.  And 
by  confession  of  many  a  converted  Universalist,  no 
argument  has  ever  weighed  so  heavily  on  his  mind,  as 
the  desperate  determination  and  gloomy  necessities  of 
his  own  love  of  sin. 

To  these  attachments,  and  interests,  and  principles 
of  the  sin-loving  heart,  the  system  is  continually  mak- 
ing its  wily  appeal.  Not  alone  when  it  asks  its  "  candid 
hearers  "  to  judge  whether  the  doctrines  of  God's  word 
accord  with  the  feelings  of  their  own  hearts  and  the 
maxims  of  human  life ;  but  in  all  its  sneers  at  the 
over-righteousness  of  orthodoxy,  its  easy  moralities, 
its  complicity  with  questionable  indulgences,  its  pro- 
posed abrogation  of  the  separation  between  church  and 
congregation, — in  these  and  other  modes,  it  aims  to 
enlist  the  whole  force  of  human  depravity  in  its  behalf. 
And  when  some  bold  blasphemer  dies,  and  his  comrades 
gather  round  to  pay  the  last  sad  rites,  awe-struck  in 
their  own  sinful  course,  not  seldom  is  the  voice  of  the 
preacher  heard,  soothing  the  involuntary  fears  of  the 
evil  heart,  at  that  solemn  hour,  with  the  assurance  that 
the  departed  brother  is  "  made  alive  in  Christ ;" — 
and  encouraging  his  boon  companions  to  go  and  inscribe 
on  his  tomb, "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the  Lord.'* 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  155 

But  the  most  artful  and  one  of  the  most  wicked 
things,  is  when  the  very  dead  are  summoned,  so  to 
speak,  to  help  destroy  the  living,  and  a  man's  love  for 
some  ruined  soul  is  made  an  argument  for  ruining  his 
own  soul.  It  has  been  often  and  plausibly  said, — and 
the  remark  has  sometimes  made  deep  impression  on 
minds  in  peculiar  circumstances — "  I  could  not  be 
happy  in  heaven,  if  I  knew  my  friends  were  in  hell." 
If  I  were  to  meet  the  remark  as  abruptly  as  it  is  made, 
I  should  say  to  one  who  utters  it,  "  Very  likely  you 
could  not ;  for  if  you  love  those  sinful  friends — even 
though  they  be  father  or  mother  or  wife  or  children — 
better  than  you  love  a  Holy  God,  you  certainly  could 
not,  and  you  certainly  will  not,  be  happy  in  heaven. 
Your  statement  is  the  statement  of  an  unregenerate 
man.  You  will  not  enter  heaven,  if  Christ's  words 
are  true."  But  in  those  who  are  truly  his  disciples, 
Christ  has  made  provision  for  even  this  sad,  sad  case. 
For  he  has  told  us  that  except  we  love  him  better  even 
than  all  these  friends  and  relatives,  we  cannot  be  his 
disciples ;  and  if  we  do  so  love  him,  will  not  the  infinite 
resources  of  that  Almighty  Friend  become  surety  for 
our  consummate  happiness,  even  though  other  friends 
should  have  chosen  to  abandon  his  society  and  ours 
forever  ?  Even  on  earth,  have  there  not  been  virtuous 
and  chosen  friends,  who,  happy  in  each  other's  love  andin 
the  path  of  duty,  though  renounced  by  all  their  earthly 
relatives,  have  led  a  life  of  serenity  and  joy  ?  Much 
more  shall  the  kindred  of  the  Lord  of  Glory, — they 
towards  whom  he  stretches  forth  his  hand  and  saith, 
"  Behold  my  mother  and  my  brethren" — in  the  bless- 
edness of  his  love,  and  in  the  vast  circle  of  the  lovely 


156  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

and  the  loving  gathered  round  him,  rejoice  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,  whoever  else  may  have 
refused  to  come  and  join  that  blessed  throng.  If  God 
were  able  himself  to  be  happy,  in  his  own  fulness, 
through  the  ages  before  the  first  creature  sprang  into 
being,  much  more  will  he  know  how  from  that  infinite 
fulness  to  fill  up  the  heart  of  his  loving  child,  in  the 
midst  of  the  whole  family  that  is  named  of  Christ,  and 
in  his  own  heavenly  home. 

We  may  even  discern,  in  some  degree,  how  it  shall 
come  to  pass.  Our  whole  condition  will  have  immensely 
and  inconceivably  changed  in  the  other  world.  God 
will  have  wrought,  in  the  Christian,  the  spirit  of  un- 
bounded confidence,  of  perfect  and  cheerful  acquies- 
cence in  all  the  decisions  of  his  justice,  holiness  and 
wisdom.  The  love  of  the  saint  for  his  God  and  Savior 
will  have  ripened  into  complete  maturity,  and  God  will 
be  to  him  an  infinite  source  of  joy ;  his  affections, 
"  that  veered  between  good  and  ill,"  that  were  won 
partly  by  worthy  and  partly  by  worthless  qualities,  will 
have  learned  to  love  only  what  is  good,  and  to  conform 
fully  to  the  mind  of  God  ;  the  mixed  qualities  of  lost 
men  will  have  given  way  to  unmixed  sinfulness,  cast- 
ing off  all  the  restraints  of  life  and  breaking  forth  in 
open  rebellion  ;  the  christian  heart  will  so  fully  see  the 
glorious  mercy  of  God,  reviewing  his  gracious  efforts 
to  save  sinners,  and  their  own  free  and  final  rejection 
of  his  tender  love, — that  the  whole  aspect  of  things 
will  have  changed  beyond  expression  or  conception. 

Look  at  the  history  of  the  heart,  even  in  the  present 
life.  God  has  wisely  so  made  us,  that  our  sufferings, 
much  as  our  friends  may  sympathize  or,  at  times,  suf- 


THE   SCRIPTURES   OVERRULED.  157 

fer  with  us,  do  not  take  away  from  them  all  the  comfort 
of  life,  especially  the  happiness  of  duty.  Our  sufferings 
may  be  intense  and  protracted,  and  may  draw  on  their 
kindest  feelings ;  yet  if  our  friends  are  not  in  fault, 
their  life  is  not  drained  of  all  its  joy.  Far  less,  if  those 
sufferings  are  our  own  unmitigated  fault,  incurred 
against  warning,  and  entreaty,  and  every  better  influ- 
ence. The  christian  father's  heart  may  be  often  drawn 
out  in  painful  -anxiety  for  his  wandering,  reckless  son  ; 
but  if  no  christian  influence  had  been  wanting  in  the 
training,  and  when  every  effort  of  kindness  has  been 
exhausted  on  him,  and  he  has  trampled  on  it  all, — 
much  as  that  father's  heart  may  lament,  he  can  still 
press  forward  in  the  life  of  duty,  rejoicing  in  God,  and, 
on  the  whole,  a  happy  man.  The  love  of  a  long-sufler- 
ing  wife,  may,  in  this  world,  be  so  thoroughly  wearied 
out  by  abuse,  and  her  sense  of  the  utter,  inexcusable 
wrongfulness  and  vileness  of  her  husband's  course  be- 
come so  clear  and  strong,  that  when  tlie  man  whom 
she  once  dearly  loved,  rushes  at  last  on  his  earthly 
doom,  his  fate  shall  inflict  no  further  wounds  on  her 
heart. 

Conceive  now  the  sanctified  heart  to  be  finding  its  fill 
of  bliss  in  God, — the  affections  to  be  forever  purified 
of  sinful  alloy, — the  soul  to  be  rejoicing  with  unbound- 
ed trust  in  the  wisdom  and  righteousnes  of  God, — the 
judgment  cleared  up  to  behold  the  unwearied  efforts 
of  Christ,  and  the  stern  final  rejection  'of  them  all ; — 
conceive  the  mixed  character  of  the  sinner  to  have 
burst  from  its  earthly  restraints  and  thrown  off  all  its 
relics  of  loveliness  , — and  every  difficulty,  or  fear  that 
the  happiness  of  heaven  will  be  embittered  by  sympa- 


158  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

tby  with  hell,  vanishes  away.     God  will  take  care  of 
heaven. 

Such  is  the  nature  of  the  appeal  with  which  Uni- 
versalism  presses  every  earthly  propensity  and  affection, 
and  the  love  of  sin  itself,  to  discard  the  doctrine  of  an 
endless  retribution.  It  is  its  most  powerful  appeal. 
And  a  mighty  hold  it  often  takes  of  the  human  heart, 
because  the  inner  citadel  of  the  human  heart  contains  a 
traitor  to  the  Holy  God.  But  effective  as  it  may  be  with 
the  traitor  in  the  heart,  it  is  feebler  than  an  infant's 
moan  against  the  plain  declarations  of  Him  whose 
"  word  shall  not  pass  away,  though  heaven  and  earth 
pass  away." 

Here  I  arrest  my  discussion  of  the  Universalist  ar- 
gument. I  have  shown  you  a  portion  of  the  multifari- 
ous threats  of  God's  word,  asserting,  in  more  varied 
shapes  than  you  or  I  could  invent,  the  endless  suffering 
which  God  will  inflict  on  the  wicked  ;  and  the  pitiful, 
inconsistent,  and  deceitful  attempts  of  Universalism  to 
evade  them.  I  have  set  before  you  the  still  lamer  and 
equally  deceitful  attempt  to  force  a  few  texts  of  scrip- 
ture into  the  service  of  the  system.  I  have  shown  you 
how  the  chief  argumentative  dependence  of  the  sys- 
tem— the  inference  from  God's  love  and  paternal  kind- 
ness— is  presumptuous  in  itself,  recklessly  audacious 
as  against  God's  word,  and  utterly  breaks  down  in  the 
presence  of  God's  daily  Providence.  And  I  have  also 
pointed  out  to  you  its  ultimate  resort  and  surest  reli- 
ance,— ^its  appeal  to  human  interest  and  passion,  to 
unsanctified  sympathies  and  desires.  The  thing  is 
rotten  in  every  timber  and  every  brace.     And  he  who 


THE   SCEIPTUEES   OVERRULED.  159 

embarks  his  eternal  destinies  in  such  a  vessel,  and 
sinks  forever  at  the  trying  confluence  of  time  with 
eternity,  must  have  heard  the  creaking  of  his  miserable 
hulk  all  his  voyage  through. 

But  the  gates  of  heaven  are  now  wide  open.  God 
does  indeed  love  his  creatures  with  a  benevolent  and  a 
rational  love.  Yea,  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on 
him,  might  not  perish  but  have  eternal  life.  0  labor 
not  with  such  unavailing  toil  to  rear  the  frail  structure 
that  shall  perish  as  the  spider's  web  at  the  giving  up  of 
the  ghost.  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou 
shall  be  saved.  Commit  your  soul  unto  him  in  hum- 
ble faith  and  love,  and  he  will  keep  that  which  thou 
hast  committed  to  his  care  ;  and  though  he  come  with 
his  mighty  angels  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on 
those  that  know  not  God  and  obey  not  the  gospel,  it 
shall  not  harm  one  hair  of  thy  head.  It  was  no  "  ly- 
ing spirit,"  but  the  mouth  of  the  Lord  of  Glory,  that 
said  in  his  last  solemn  message,  "  Preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall 
be  saved ;  but  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned." 

Repentance  of  sin  and  faith  in  Christ  are  the  only 
safety.  Even  the  false  teacher  is  sometimes  forced  to 
feel  it.*  In  the  town  of  Chelsea,  Vermont,  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  Universalist  lay  on  the  sick-bed,  sinking  slow- 
ly toward  the  grave.  She  had  been  strictly  educated 
in  her  father's  faith,  and  never  permitted  to  hear  the 
preaching  of  evangelical  religion.  During  those  de- 
clining days  and  weeks,  she  pondered  in  her  heart  her 


*  The  following  incident  was  told  me  by  the  Eev.  J.  M.  Coburn,  of 
this  city. 


160  LECTURES   ON   UNIVERSALISM. 

relation  to  God  and  the  eternal  world.  She  called  lier 
father  to  the  bed-side, — "  Father,  are  you  sure  that  I 
shall  go  to  heaven  ?  "  "  Oh,  yes,  I  guess  so,"  some- 
what lightly  replied  the  father.  •  "  But  do  you  knoio 
that  I  shall  go  to  heaven  ?  "  "  Yes,  my  dear,  I  think 
you  will,"  he  still  evasively  replied,  shrinking  before 
the  pointed  question  and  the  fearful  responsibility. — 
"  Father,"  solemnly  continued  the  dying  girl,  gazing 
earnestly  in  his  face,  "  Father,  I  cannot  trust  my  soul 
on  guess-work  ;  Oh !  I  must  know  that  my  soul  is  safe !" 
He  could  not  pacify  her  ;  and  at  length  he  said,  "  Rev. 
Mr.  H.  is  in  town,  and  we  will  send  for  him."  Mr.  H. 
came.  The  same  agonizing  questions  were  put  and  re- 
iterated,— "  Do  you  knoiv  that  I  am  going  to  heaven  ?  " 
— and  similar  evasive  replies  were  made  ;  for  that  man, 
preacher  of  the  soul-destroying  doctrine  though  he 
was,  could  not,  and,  in  that  trying  hour  and  that  sol- 
emn presence,  dared  not  tell  that  struggling  spirit  he 
knew  that  heaven  should  be  her  portion.  Perplexed, 
and  unable  to  satisfy  lier  troubled  heart,  at  length  he 
took  the  word  of  God,  and,  turning  away  from  all  the 
chosen  themes  and  texts  of  his  customary  preaching, 
that  Universalist  minister  sat  and  read  to  the  dying 
girl  those  passages  that  point  the  sinner  to  the  Lamb  of 
God  as  his  only  hope,  and  promise  eternal  life  unto  all 
that  believe  on  Jesus ; — in  short,  he  laid  before  her,  in 
the  words  of  God,  the  very  basis  and  conditions  of  the 
evangelical  hope,  "  the  hope  toward  God  through  Je- 
sus Christ."  He  went  his  way.  The  good  seed  took 
root.  It  was  a  plant  of  our  Heavenly  Father's  planting. 
She  that  had  never  heard  an  evangelical  sermon,  pon- 
dered alone  on  those  words  of  God.    The  spirit  of  God 


THE   SCRIPTURES  OVERRULED.  161 

wrought  evangelical  faith  in  her  heart,  and  she  rejoiced 
in  the  hope  of  the  gospel.  Again  she  sent  for  her 
father — "  Father,  it  is  no  guess-work  now;  I  know  that 
my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  my  sou? is  safe  in  his  hands." 
And  with  kind  invitations  to  her  father  to  come  also 
unto  Christ,  with  cheerful,  peaceful  repose  on  her 
Savior,  she  passed  away,  rejoicing  in  the  full  assurance 
of  faith.  It  is  the  name  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ  that 
sustains  the  sinking  spirit.  "  Neither  is  there  salva- 
tion in  any  other ;  for  there  is  none  other  name  undor 
heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 
But  if  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  both  shall  fall  into  the 
ditch. 


LECTURE  SIXTH. 

THE  MORAL  TENDENCIES  OF  UNIVERSALISM. 

Ezekiel  XIII :  22.  Because  with  lies  ye  have  made  the  heart  of  the 
righteous  sad,  whom  I  have  not  mode  sad  ;  and  strengthened  the  hands 
of  the  wicked  that  he  should  not  return  from  his  wicked  way,  by  prom- 
ising him  life. 

In  discussing  the  system  called  Universalism,  I  have 
endeavored  to  present  only  the  most  indispensable  con- 
siderations, and  to  compress  the  subject  into  the  short- 
est limits.  Much  of  my  material  remains  unused.  In 
my  statement  of  the  system,  I  have  employed  incontes- 
table evidence, — the  printed  statements  of  its  ablest 
doctrinal  writers,  of  the  most  modern  date.  Some 
other  features  of  the  system,  quite  as  bad,  or  worse,  I 
have  refrained,  thus  far,  from  presenting.  I  have 
pointed  out  the  nature  and  character  of  the  system ; 
some  of  the  more  obvious  marks  of  its  falsehood ;  and, 
in  detail,  the  futility  of  its  argument, — both  of  its  at- 
teiripts  to  break  down  the  Scripture  threats,  and  to  find 
Scripture  authority  for  itself,  or  even  to  make  a  case 
out  of  the  boasted  appeal  to  God's  love  and  paternal 
character ;  and  its  final  resort  to  impenitent  desires  and 
passions  ; — an  utter  failure  in  every  particular.  I  now 
wish  to  apply  to  it  the  criterion  of  this  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  speak  of 

THE  MORAL  TENDENCIES  OF  UNIVERSALISM. 

I  shall  show  that  its  moral  tendency  is  worthy  of  its 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  163 

parentage  and  its  advocacy ; — while  it  saddens  the 
heart  of  the  righteous,  it  "  strengthens  the  hands  of 
the  wicked  that  he  should  not  return  from  his  wicked 
way,  by  promising  him  life," 

Here,  however,  let  me  make  a  distinction  between 
the  system  and  the  personal  character  of  many  of  its 
advocates.  Whatever  may  be  the  moral  tendency  of 
a  doctrine  itself,  it  does  not  follow  that  it  will  show 
itself  in  every  one  of  its  adherents.  Thus,  infidelity 
unquestionably  tends  to  licentiousness  and  corruption, 
and  wherever  it  has  full  scope,  as  once  in  France,  it 
will  break  forth  in  all  its  power.  But  u.nder  the 
restraints  of  New  England  society  and  law,  under  the 
influence  of  early  education,  and  the  absolute  necessi- 
ties of  his  position  as  a  religious  teacher,  I  suppose  Mr. 
Theodore  Parker  to  be  a  man  of  good,  if  not  irre- 
proachable moral  life.  So,  whatever  are  the  tenden- 
cies of  Universalism,  and  whatever  the  character  of  a 
great  portion  of  its  adherents,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt,  that  in  our  larger  places,  especially,  it  numbers 
many  honorable  men  and  women, — persons  who  never 
have  given  themselves  the  trouble  to  look  closely  into 
a  system  that  meets  the  desires  of  the  unchanged  heart. 
I  presume  that  some  of  those,  even,  who  have  listened 
to  my  discussion,  have  been  nearly  as  much  surprised 
as  my  own  congregation  at  the  facts  I  have  presented. 
As  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  is  a  dangerous  depar- 
ture from  the  truth,  and  its  priesthood  we  consider  un- 
questionably corrupt,  yet  have  no  doubt  that  there 
have  been  and  are  manj  good  Christians  among  the 
laymen  ;  so  here,  there  are  laymen  for  whom  one  feels 
much  more  respect  than  it  is  easy  to  feel  for  the  minis- 


164  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

try  as  a  body.  Indeed,  I  know  of  one  man,  the  leading 
Universalist  in  the  tomi  of  N.,  in  this  State,  whose 
notions  are  so  high  that  he  has  repeatedly  said  he  had 
never  met  a  Universahst  minister  whom  he  was  pleased 
with,  or  could  respect ;  and  though  there  is  a  Unitarian 
meeting  in  the  place,  he  is  a  regular  attendant  at  an 
evangelical  church.  So,  I  cannot  doubt,  there  are  in 
this  city  men  and  women,  who,  if  they  understood  the 
bearings  and  hidden  workings  of  the  system,  would 
run  from  it  as  from  the  pestilence  ;  and  who  now  are 
troubled  with  many  a  misgiving  in  view  of  the  mixed 
group  around  them,  and  the  strange  exhibitions  that 
tliey  see.  At  the  same  time,  a  multitude  of  others  love 
it,  no  doubt,  for  just  what  it  is. 

In  attempting  to  discuss  the  present  subject,  I  feel  a 
difficulty.  It  is  a  system  whose  full  workings  none 
can  fathom  who  has  not  been  through  it.  There  is  so 
much  that  is  deceptive  about  it,  and  so  many  of  its 
worst  effects  lie  beyond  the  range  of  respectable  society, 
that  the  picture  must  be  inadequate.  Still,  a  good 
Providence  has  smiled  on  my  attempts  to  get  authentic 
information,  till  I  have  secured  quite  as  much  as  I  can 
use  on  the  present  occasion. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the  system  is  of 
comparatively  recent  origin,  and  being  held  by  a  small 
minority,  has  been  continually  kept  in  check. 

What  are  its  moral  tendencies  ? — From  the  nature 
of  the  case,  what  must  they  be  ?  Surrounded  with 
temptations,  and  filled  with  perverse  inclinations,  but 
restrained  by  the  voice  of  conscience  and  the  fear  of 
God's  threatened  vengeance,  what  must  be  the  effect 
on  any  man,  of  hearing  every  Sabbath   as  the  central 


MORAL   TENDENCIES.  166 

and  absorbing  truth  of  the  gospel,  "  live  just  as  you 
please,  and  it  shall  all  be  well  hereafter." 

And  here  let  me  pause  to  notice  a  small  sophistry 
worthy  of  the  system.  Universalism,  it  is  said,  makes 
known  immediate  punishment,  and  therefore  must  be 
far  more  effective  than  the  proclamation  of  a  distant 
penalty.  I  answer,  it  does  not  7nake  known  immediate 
punishment ;  all  the  present  penalties  of  sin,  men 
know  without  Universalism  ;  it  does  not  add  one  atom 
to  their  knowledge  : — the  thing  that  Universalism  does, 
is  audaciously  to  assert  that  this  present  punishment  is 
all  there  is.     That  is  its  function  and  influence. 

Again  it  is  said,  Universalism  insists  always  on  love  ; 
and  love  is  the  most  potent  agent  of  obedience.  I  ask, 
tvhat  love  ?  Answer, — it  harps  on  this  string,  "  God 
loves  all  men  alike,  the  sinner  as  well  as  the  saint." 
Whether  that  kind  of  talk  about  love  is  fitted  to  pro- 
duce obedience,  let  any  man  judge.  As  to  any  love 
in  man  for  God, — Universalism  is  so  far  from  practi- 
cally insisting  on  it,  that  it  tells  him  it  makes  not  a 
shadow  of  difference  with  his  prospects  hereafter, 
whether  in  this  life  he  exercise  that  love  or  not. 

Such  are  the  principal  modes  in  which  the  system 
undertakes  to  break  the  force  of  the  appalling  facts 
which  I  am  about  to  present.  As  arguments,  they  cer- 
tainly are  on  a  level  with  the  rest  of  the  system. 

To  facts  now  let  us  appeal ;  and  see  the  moral  ten- 
dency of  the  system,  first  as  a  code  of  doctrine ;  secondly, 
as  a  system  of  preaching  and  propagation  ;  thirdly,  as 
an  influence  in  the  community. 

I.  Its  moral  tendency  as  a  code  of  doctrine. 

1.  Its  movement  has  been  downward  from  the  begin- 


166  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ning.  It  began  in  this  country  with  John  Murray,  who 
held  to  strict  Calvinism  ;  except  that  he  taiight  that  all 
men  were  elected  to  eternal  life.  Before  John  Murray 
diedjHosea  Ballou  denied  Christ's  divinity  and  vicarious 
atonement.  Murray  refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  a 
Christian,  and  Murray's  society  refused  to  hear  him 
preach.  But  the  movement  went  on,  and,  when  Mur- 
ray's generation  passed  away,  the  rejection  of  Christ's 
divinity  became  general.  Ballou  became  editor  of  the 
principal  Universalist  Journal,  and  in  the  year  1818, 
after  he  had  been   twenty-seven  years  in  the  ministry, 

he  openly  denied  all  future   punishment ; the  first 

man  in  the  history  of  the  world,  so  far  as  is  known, 
holding  to  a  future  state  at  all,  and  denying  all  con- 
nexion of  our  conduct  here  with  our  condition  there. 
The  moral  sense  of  the  denomination  revolted,  and  a 
sharp  conflict  arose.  But  so  effectually  did  he  use  his 
organ  that  the  moral  sense  gave  way,  and  as  early  as 
1829,  according  to  Mr.  Whittemore,*  there  were  few 
comparatively  among  preachers  or  people,  who  believed 
in  any  future  punishment ;  and  in  1849,  according  to 
Ballou  himself,  none  who  dwelt  upon  it  in  their  preach- 
ing. Meanwhile,  the  system  has  gradually  dropped 
everything  distinctive  in  the  teachings  of  the  Bible : — 
not  only  the  great  doctrines  of  grace,  and  all  influence 
of  Christ's  work  on  the  world  to  come ;  but  also  the 
collateral  teachings,  such  as  the  divine  sanctity  of  the 
Sabbath,  the  influence  of  prayer,  the  existence  of  an- 
gels and  of  a  personal  Devil,  the  essential  difference  of 
human  character,  and  in  many  instances,  as  will  pres- 
ently appear,  the  fact  of  miracles.      With  whatever 


*  Mod,  Hist.  Un.  pp.  439—41. 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  167 

exceptions,  such  has  been  the  doctrinal  history  of  the 
system.  I  therefore  proceed  to  show  that,  notwith- 
standing its  outAvard  professions, 

2.  The  present  position  of  the  system  is  strongly 
infidel  or  close  upon  it.  Let  us  take  a  look,  for  once, 
inside  of  the  curtain.  In  the  year  1847,  on  the  third 
and  fourth  days  of  November,  the  Boston  Association 
of  Universalists  held  a  meeting  at  Lynn,  Mass.  In 
order  to  cover  over  the  real  spirit  of  the  denomination, 
and  urged  by  certain  exigencies,  the  following  Resolu- 
tion was  introduced  :  "  Resolved,  That  this  Association 
express  its  solemn  conviction,  that  in  order  for  one  to  be 
regarded  as  a  Christian  Minister,  with  respect  to  faith, 
he  must  believe  in  the  Bible  account  of  the  life,  teach- 
ings, miracles,  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 

That  resolution  could  not  be  passed  on  the  spot ; 
but  was  suspended  four  weeks  to  another  meeting  held 
December  1st, — and  then  passed.  But  take  notice — 
nine  members  of  that  association  in  good  standing, 
one  of  whom,  J.  W.  Hanson,  is  now  editor  of  the 
"  Gospel  Banner"  in  Maine,  felt  themselves  aggrieved 
by  that  resolution  ;  and  eight  of  them  published  a 
"  statement  of  facts  "  in  regard  to  it,  letting  us  in  a 
little  behind  the  curtain,  and  showing  what  the  Bos- 
ton Association  was  in  1847.  This  testimony,  observe, 
is  not  given  by  men  outside,  nor  even  men  who  had 
left,  but  by  men  then,  and  most  of  them  now,  inside 
the  denomination  and  in  good  standing,  yea  prominent. 
To  this  resolution,  nine  ministers  present  were  oppos- 
ed, (one  voting  affirmatively  to  move  reconsideration) 
and  five  more  who  were  absent ;  while  two,  at  least,  of 


168  LECTURES   ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

those  voting  for  it,  had  elsewhere  distinctly  denied  the 
miracles  of  the  New  Testament,  and  some  of  the  ma- 
jority (so  they  said,)  considered  the  resolution  as  a 
mere  expression  of  opinion,  not  calculated  to  disfel- 
lowship  any  preacher.  It  is  also  a  significant  fact  that 
the  Rev.  John  Prince,  (now  of  Essex  Ms.,)  in  order  to 
defeat  the  whole  movement  prepared  the  following 
amendment;  "Resolved  that  this  Association  express 
its  solemn  conviction,  that  in  order  for  one  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  Christian  minister,  with  respect  to  faith,  he 
must  believe  in  the  entire  Bible  account  of  the  birth, 
life,  teachings,  miracles,  death,  resurrection,  and  as- 
cension of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

It  will  be  perceived  that  this  amendment,  inserts 
three  additional  words,  requiring  belief  in  the  entire 
Bible  account  of  Christ,  including  his  birth  and  ascen- 
sion. Mr.  Prince  sought  opportunity  to  introduce  this 
amendment,  which  he  is  confident  would  not  have 
passed ;  but  the  debate  was  purposely  restricted  and 
"  muzzled,"  and  after  a  discussion  of  only  three  hours, 
in  which  no  one  was  to  speak  but  once,  or  more  than 
fifteen  minutes,  the  vote  on  the  original  resolution  was, 
in  his  language,  "  absolutely  grabbed^''  lest  the  amend- 
ment, if  introduced,  should  defeat  the  whole  move- 
ment. 

Mr.  P.  is  confident  that  the  original  resolution  would 
not  have  carried  at  the  first  meeting.  E.  H.  Chapin 
strenuously  opposed  it ;  though  himself  believing  in 
miracles,  he  denied  the  right  to  pass  the  test.  Hosea 
Ballou  (Sen.)  was  in  favor  of  indefinite  postponement 
provided  a  record  of  the  fact  were  omitted  from  the 
published  minutes.     But  when  the   adjournment  had 


MORAL   TENDENCIES.  169 

taken  place,  and  the  eyes  of  the  world  were  turned  to 
the  pending  question,  he  threw  his  influence  in  favor 
of  the  Resolution, — and  it  was  passed. 

Nine,  then,  refused.  But  the  majority  carried  it. — 
What  was  the  position  of  the  majority  ?  Were  they 
ready  to  exclude  from  the  ministry  men  who  did  not 
believe  the  Bible  account  of  Christ  ?  Not  at  all.  Says 
Rev.  J.  Prince,  (one  of  the  eight)  "  some  who  voted 
for  it  say  that  they  regard  it  only  as  an  expressioyi  of 
opinion,  not  as  a  measure  virtually  to  exclude  any  one 
in  particular  from  the  fellowship  of  the  order,  or  as  an 
attempt  to  drive  any  one  away  from  the  Universalist 
ministry.  Had  they  viewed  it  otherwise,  they  say  they 
should  not  have  voted  for  it."  What  then  was  the  ob- 
ject ?  Mr.  Prince  affirms  his  solemn  conviction  that  it 
was  but "  a  screen  "  before  the  denomination,  and  an 
effort  to  over-awe  the  freedom  of  the  younger  minis- 
ters. Rev.  D.  H.  Plumb  (another  of  the  eight,  now 
preaching  at  Warren,  Ms.)  says,  "  I  stand  now  (Feb. 
1848)  just  where  I  stood  six  years  ago,  when  I  obtain- 
ed letters  of  fellowship  and  was  ordained.  No  ques- 
tions were  asked  me  then  in  regard  to  belief.  I  believed 
In  Universal  Salvation  then,  and  I  do  now.  This  was 
regarded  as  the  only  real  essential  of  a  Universalist. 
The  manner  in  which  he  was  induced  to  believe  it, — how 
it  would  be  brought  about, — what  would  intervene  be- 
tween the  present  and  its  final  accomplishment,  were 
all  regarded  as  questions  of  secondary  importance,  and 
were  never  to  my  knowledge  put."  In  conformity  with 
this  statement,  we  actually  find  Hosea  Ballou  saying, 
"  we  deem  it  proper  to  consider  all  who  embrace  this  one 
item  of  faith  "  (the  final  holiness  and  happiness  of  all  men) 


170  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

"  as  Universalists,  however  they  may  differ"  hi  other 
respects.*  Mr.  W.  M.  Fernald  (another  of  the  eight) 
reports  Hosea  Ballou,  Senior,  as  saying  to  him,  "  that 
'  we  could  not,  with  our  reason,  helieve  in  miracles  as 
above  the  workings  of  nature  ;  that  it  was  best  7iot  to 
say  much  about  it ;  that  if  any  were  so  imprudent  as  to 
broach  it  now,  they  would  have  to  bear  all  the  brunt  of 
the  battle,  and  those  who  come  after  would  reap  all  the 
good.'  On  relating  the  impression  I  received  from  this 
conversation  to  a  talented  clergyman,  he  remarked  that 
he  agreed  with  the  venerable  gentleman  ....  this  was 
a  proof  of  his  wisdom  ;  that  he  probably  had  not  seen 
the  time  when  the  world  could  bear  these  views,  and  so 
had  not  pi'oclaimed  them."  In  conformity  with  this 
"  wisdom  "  of  his,  we  find  the  same  Hosea  Ballou,  a 
year  or  two  later  than  this,  publicly  advising  young 
candidates  for  the  ministry  to  ask  themselves  whether 
they  believe  the  Bible  account  concerning  Christ  and 
his  works  and  resurrection. 

But  Mr.  Fernald  adds :  "  One  of  the  most  popular 
clergymen  in  the  denomination,  not  sixty  miles  from 
Boston,  assured  me  in  his  study  last  Spring,  that  he 
did  not  believe  that  Christ  was  even  raised  bodily  from 
the  dead."  Mr.  Fernald  contemplated  preaching  to  a 
very  popular  society,  and  was  about  to  send  them  word 
by  the  pastor  of  the  church,  as  follows:  " '  Please  tell 
the  people  that  I  am  a  rationalist ;  that  I  do  not  be- 
lieve in  the  miracles  as  above  nature, — many  of  them 
I  do  not  believe  in  at  all — not  even  the  bodily  resur- 
rection of   Christ.'     '  Fernald,'  said  he,  '  don't  send 


*  Voice  to  Un.  p.  25. 


MOEAL   TENDENCIES.  171 

any  such  word.  Go  tell  them  you  are  a  Christian, 
and  there  are  not  ten  men  in  the  society  that  will  care 
what  you  believe.'  Such  was  the  advice  and  remarks 
of  this  highly  esteemed  clergyman."  Mr.  Fernald 
asserts  that  those  entertaining  these  views  are  not  the 
obscure  and  uninfluential  alone,  but  "  they  are  among 
the  first  in  the  order, — the  most  talented,  influential 
and  popular." 

And  in  regard  to  the  Resolution  adopted  by  the 
Association,  not  only  are  we  informed  that  some  min- 
isters voted  for  it  who  privately  denied  the  miracles, 
but  Mr.  Prince  says  of  the  lay  delegates  who  voted  for 
this  test,  viz.,  assent  to  the  "  Bible  account"  of  Christ 
— I  know  that  some  of  them  voted  for  it  as  they  inter- 
pret it — construing  the  "  Bible  account "  to  mean 
"  true  account,"  and  therefore  leaving  the  question 
what  is  the  truth  of  the  case,  undecided.  He  also 
calls  attention  to  the  guarded  phraseology  of  the  Gen- 
eral Universalist  Convention,  in  their  Profession  of 
Belief,  which  only  avows  that  the  Scriptures  "  contain 
a  revelation"  (not  that  they  are  a  revelation) — a  phrase 
under  y^hich,  as  he  well  remarks,  "  Universalists  of 
every  different  shade  of  belief  respecting  other  points 
of  doctrine  than  universal  redemption,  could  most 
cordially  unite."  And  he  refers,  in  proof,  to  the  Rev. 
L.  C.  Browne,  who  warmly  commends  that  Profession 
of  belief,  yet  openly  rejects  the  Scripture  narrative  of 
Christ's  miraculous  birth.  « 

Rev.  J.  W.  Hanson,  now  editor  of  the  "  Gospel  Ban- 
ner, (another  of  the  eight,)  bears  testimony  thus: 
"That  the  principle,  which,  when  logically  carried 
out,  results  in  Rationalism,  is  very  general  in  the  body, 


172  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

is  veritably  true.  There  is  not  a  single  Universalist 
preacher  who  believes  that  Christ  ever  cast  out  devils 
or  demons  from  a  human  being.  They  believe  that 
those  who  were  operated  upon  by  the  Savior,  were 
insane  or  epileptic,  and  yet  the  Bible  says  nothing  of 
the  sort.  The  Universalist  Commentary  may  say  that 
Christ  cured  men  of  epileptic  fits ;  the  Bible  says  he 
cast  out  devils  y* 

Here  is  a  moral  picture  for  you : — Young  men  ad- 
mitted to  the  Christian  ministry  without  a  question 
whether  they  receive  the  Bible  teachings  concerning 
Christ  aiid  his  works  and  resurrection  (or,  indeed,  a 
question  on  any  point  of  faith  whatever,  except  the 
final  salvation  of  all  men) ;  eight  members  of  the  lead- 
ing Association  openly  rejecting  even  such  a  test ;  the 
majority  who  carried  the  Resolution,  giving  up  the 
rem'ainder  of  the  Bible — and  passing  the  Resolution 
expressly  with  no  design  of  excluding  the  deniers  from 
the  ministry ;  the  most  venerable  member  of  the  den^- 
ination  privately  discarding  the  miracles,  but  conceal- 
ing his  opinion  for  prudence^  sake  ;  the  talented  and 
influential  denying  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and 
affirming  that  not  ten  men  in  the  congregation  will 
care  what  a  rank  infidel  believes,  if  he  only  calls  him- 
self a  Christian ;  and  the  mass  of  the  ministry  tinged 


*  Ml-.  Hanson  also  gives  the  following  reply  of"  Father  Ballou,"  as 
resting  on  unquestionable  authority :  At  the  close  of  one  of  his  public 
ministrations,  many  years  ago,  being  asked  by  the  son  of  his  host,  " '  what 
do  you  make  of  the  account  of  the  devils  which  were  driven  into  a  herd 
of  swine  V  '  Ah !'  said  the  old  gentleman,  '  I  was  always  sorry  they  put 
that  story  in.' " 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  173 

with  such  accommodating  and  evasive  views  even  of 
the  gospel  narration.* 

Numerous  confirmatory  statements  could  be  given. 
The  noted  0.  A.  Brownson,  who  at  one  time  was  a 
Universalist  preacher  and  editor,  afterwards  stated 
that  it  was  very  common  for  the  clergymen  with  whom 
he  was  then  acquainted,  to  speak  of  Universalism  as  a 
"  stepping-stone,"  as  the  best  weapon  to  destroy  the 
orthodox,  do  away  the  clergy,  and  to  prepare  the  way 
for  something  better.  Of  the  2,500  subscribers  to  the 
Universalist  paper  he  conducted,  it  was  presumed  that 
more  than  half  were  skeptics  or  skeptical.  And  he 
had  conversed  with  hundreds  of  professed  Universalists 
who  would  own  to  him  that  they  supported  Universalism 
only  "  because  it  was  the  most  liberal  sentiment  they 
could  find,  and  because  it  was  better  than  Deism  to 


*  The  above  statements  are  all  of  them  from  this  very  valuable  docu- 
ment, the  "Statement  of  Facts,"  dated,  Boston,  Feb.  5,  1848.  Of  the 
eight  authors  of  the  Statement,  the  Universalist  Companion  and  Regis- 
ter, for  1856,  gives  the  names  of  five  as  ministers,  now  in  good  standing 
in  the  denomination :  Rev.  C.  Spear  in  Boston,  Rev.  D.  H.  Plumb  at 
Warren,  Ms.,  Rev.  J.  Prince  at  Essex,  Ms.,  Rev.  W.  G.  Cambridge  in 
Boston,  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Hanson  at  Augusta,  Me.,  now  editor  of  the 
Banner.  The  other  three  I  do  not  distinctly  trace,  except  as  I  learn 
from  the  Universalist  Quarterly  for  June,  1856,  that  Mr.  Fernald  has 
abandoned  Universalism  by  going  entirely  beyod  it ; — he  holds  that  "  the 
wicked  will  be  eternally  wicked  and  happjj." 

For  my  copy  of  this  important  "  Statement,"  I  am  indebted  to  the 
kindness  of  Rev.  N.  D.  George.  I  wrote  to  Rev.  J.  W.  Hanson,  of  the 
Banner,  for  a  copy,  and  received  a  very  courteous  reply,  but  not  the  doc- 
ument. I  am  happy  to  add  that  Mr.  Hanson  now  endorses  its  state- 
ments. In  his  letter,  now  lying  before  me,  under  date  of  "  Gardiner, 
May  23,  1856,"  he  says  of  the  "Statement  of  Facts,"  "Its  contents 
were  facts,  but  of  no  great  value."    Our  opinions  of  their  value  differ. 


174  LECTURES   ON   UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

put  down  the  orthodox."!  Are  there  no  other  places 
where  leading  members  of  Universalist  societies  are 
infidel  ? 

Abner  Kneeland,  once  a  Universalist,  and  afterwards 
an  Atheist,  stated  that  he  reached  the  last  position  only 
bj  carrying  out  those  principles  of  interpretation, 
which,  when  a  Universalist,  he  brought  to  the  Bible  ; 
and  affirmed  explicitly  that  Universalism  is  but  a 
"  stepping-stone  "  to  infidelity 4 

Hon.  Charles  Hudson,  once  a  Universalist  preacher, 
afterwards  a  member  of  Congress,  wrote  thus :  "As 
far  as  my  observation  has  extended — and  it  has  not 
been  very  limited,  having  visited  scores  of  societies — 
it  is  my  firm  opinion  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  the 
males  who  are  warmly  attached  to  the  doctrine  of  no 
retribution,  are  not  believers  in  tlie  essential  facts  of 
Divine  Revelation."*  A  letter  now  before  me,  written 
by  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  in  Rockingham  county, 
recently  a  Universalist  in  Maine  and  well  acquainted 
with  the  ministry  of  that  denomination  in  Maine,  states 
thus  (under  date  of  May  17,  1856):  "They,  the  min- 
istry, will  not  confess  to  strangers  that  they  deny 
inspiration  and  miracles  and  regeneration  and  a  special 
or  general  providence,  yet  such  is  the  fact.  One  of 
the  most  spiritual  in  Maine  is  as  much  an  infidel  as 
Parker,  and  would  have  to  stand  with  him  if  he  con- 
fessed his  belief,  yet  he  is  their  most  acknowledged 
spiritual-minded  man.f 

t  Review  of  Whitman's  Letters  in  the  Monitor,  quoted  by  M.  H. 
Smith,  p.  249.  f  Smith's  Un.  Ex.  p.  243.  *  Quoted  in  Smith's  Uni- 
versalism Examined,  p.  293,  etc.  For  Mr.  Smith's  OM'n  abundant  testi- 
mony I  shall  simply  refer  to  the  A'olume  itself,  t  Mss.  letter  of  Rev.  Jas. 
M.  Palmer  of  Newmarket — by  whom  I  amauthorized  to  use  the  statement. 


MORAL   TENDENCIES.  175 

Listen  also  to  a  voice  from  New  York  :  The  same 
"  Statement  of  facts,"  already  quoted,  gives  a  letter 
"written  from  the  State  of  New  York,  to  Mr.  Prince, 
(dated  Nov.  10,  1845,)  a  part  of  which  reads  thus : 
"  Brother  Prince,  When  I  became  a  Universalist,  fif- 
teen years  ago,  I  embraced  what  is  now  called  Parker- 
ism.  Since  that  time,  I  have  not  believed  in  the 
theology  of  the  Jews,  nor  in  their  morality.  I  have 
not  believed  in  the  infallibility  of  the  prophets. 
....  I  have  not  believed  in  an  age  of  miracles,  nor  a 

monopoly  of  inspiration I  have  never  concealed 

my  views  on  these  subjects  ;  but  I  have  never  said  very 
much  about  them,  except  by  incidentally  incorporating 
them  into  my  sermons When  I  became  a  Uni- 
versalist, I  supposed  that  these  views  were  generally 
embraced  by  the  denomination.  True,  I  knew  that 
one  preacher  at  the  West  very  strongly  opposed  them, 
and  that  he  made  himself  very  unpopular  with  his 
brethren  by  doing  so.  .  .  .  Possibly,  when  the  final  vote 
is  taken,  there  will  be  found  more  '  infidels''  among  us 
than  was  even  supposed." 

Nay,  distinct  intimations  of  this  position  are  to  be 
found  even  in  their  published  defences,  as  when  Asher 
Moore,  after  admitting  that  all  infidels  believe  the  doc- 
trine of  eternal  punishment  to  be  in  the  Bible  and  for 
this  reason  reject  it,  significantly  asks,  "  And  when  such 
is  declared  to  be  the  doctrine  of  that  book  which  pro- 
claims good  tidings  of  great  joy  that  shall  be  to  all 
people ;  who  can  blame  a  man  for  pausing  to  inquire 
before  he  believes  ?"  And  when  Williamson  asserts, 
"Now  man  does  see  some  truths  by  his  own  reason  and 
he  knows  them  to  be  true  ;  hence  he  is  authorized  to 


176  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

reject  any  and  every  doctrine  that  contradicts  these 
first  principles ;" — and  four  pages  further,  he  informs 
us  that  "  reason  most  sternly  forbids  the  idea  of  end- 
less woe"  or  "  even  the  possibility  of  it"  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  God.  So  also  Thayer,  vi^hen  he  makes  this 
bold  alternative :  "  One  of  two  things  is  certain — ^if 
God  is  the  Father  of  all  men,  endless  misery  is  false  : 
or  if  endless  misery  is  true,  God  is  not  the  father  of  all 
men,  and  the  Bible  is  false.''''  And  the  General  Con- 
vention of  Universalists  in  the  United  States  has  pur- 
posely left  the  door  open  to  "  Universalists  of  every  shade 
of  belief^''  (as  Mr.  Prince  well  expresses  it,)  by  declar- 
ing as  their  Profession  of  Belief  in  regard  to  the  Bible, 
— not  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  are  a  Revelation  from 
God  himself — but  that  they  "  contain  a  revelation  of 
the  character  of  God,  and  of  the  duty,  interest,  and 
final  destruction  of  mankind."  But  who  made  that 
Revelation,  whether  God  or  man,  and  in  what  portions 
of  the  Scriptures  it  is  "  contained,"  the  General  Con- 
vention of  Universalists  say  not.  They  even  make  this 
confession  easy  to  every  capacity,  by  requiring  only 
"  an  expressed  or  implied  assent.":]:  The  whole  system, 
in  its  influence  and  bearing,  is  but  an  ill-disguised 
scheme  of  infidelity. 

3.  As  a  code  of  doctrine  it  is  also  deceitful  and  un- 
manly in  its  course.  You  have  heard  the  pitiful 
perversions  of  Scripture,  and  the  wretched  disregard 
of  all  consistency  in  argument,  with  which  the  system 
is  sustained  by  some  of  the  leading  writers.     Those 


X  Moore's  Univ.  Belief,  p.  52.  Williamson's  Endless  Pun;  Ex.  pp.  24, 
28.  Tracts  for  the  people,  p.  51.  Universalist  Companion  for  1857. 
"  Constitution  of  Gen.  Convention,"  Art.  6,  Section  5. 


MOEAL  TENDENCIES.  177 

writers  are  not  singular.  My  examinations  have  im- 
pressed me  continually  with  a  painful  sense  of  their 
dishonesty  and  sophistry.  Audacious  misrepresenta- 
tions and  misstatements  concerning  facts  are  character- 
istic. And  with  this  is  joined  a  singular  concealment 
and  deception,  concerning  the  inner  features  of  the 
system.  Bad  as  is  the  Universalism  of  the  books,  you 
do  not  get  it  all  there.  In  this  lowest  deep  there  is  a 
lower  still.  There  is  a  Universalist  system,  it  seems, 
out  of  sight.  Here  are  men  rejecting  the  inspiration 
of  the  Bible,  the  narrative  of  Christ's  miracles,  and  of 
his  resurrection,  yet  retaining  their  standing  in  the 
ministry ;  here  are  such  men  even  as  E.  H.  Chapin 
and  T.  S.  King,  publicly  denying  the  "  moral  right  to 
pass  such  a  test  ;"*  here  are  other  men  voting  a  belief 
in  these  things  necessary  to  a  minister,  yet  averring 
that  they  mean  not  to  reject  those  who  disavow  them. 
Here  is  the  father  of  the  denomination  frankly  confess- 
ing, in  private,  principles  which  he  dared  not  avow  in 
public, — and  other  men  endorsing  his  wisdom ;  while 
popular  and  leading  men  of  the  denomination  frankly 
own  their  disbelief  of  Christ's  resurrection.  So,  Abner 
Kneeland  was  known  by  his  ministerial  associates  to 
have  renounced  his  faith  in  the  Bible  for  years  before 
he  did  it  publicly,  and  he  went  on  as  one  of  them.f 
Says  my  correspondent,  "  they  will  not  confess  these 
things  to  strangers,  yet  such  is  the  fact.  They  deny 
all  miracles — inspiration — regeneration  —  the  immor- 
tality of  the  Soul.  They  believe  that  when  we  die  we 
become  extinct,  and  then  in  the  resurrection,  be  it 
sooner  or  later,  the  Soul  is  created  anew.     This  latter 


*  "Statement  of  Facts,"  pp.  1,  4.    t  Smith's  Un.  Ex.  p.  248. 
12 


178  LECTURES   ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

statement  is  true  of  Universalists,  although  our  people 
do  not  know  it  generally."*  Indeed  so  serpentine  is 
the  system,  it  is  impossible  to  hold  it  to  anything ;  and 
it  is  only  when  there  is  a  strife  within,  or  a  departure 
of  some  one  from  the  body  that  we  can  see  its  inner 
life.  For  example, — there  is  a  certain  preacher  of  the 
system,  who  in  his  last  conversation  with  a  Congregation- 
al minister,  some  years  since,  was  a  Restorationist. 
Not  many  months  ago,  in  conversation  with  an  intelli- 
gent Orthodox  physician,  being  closely  pressed,  he  was 
inclined  to  admit  some  future  punishment ;  but,  a  few 
days  later,  he  calls  him  aside  to  say  that  he  did  not 
know  whether  there  would  or  would  not  be  any  future 
punishment ;  then  in  a  conversation  with  a  Baptist 
minister,  not  six  months  since,  he  denies  in  so  many 
words  that  he  is  a  Restorationist ;  afterwards,  another 
Congregational  minister  hears  him  publicly  endorse, 
in  a  story,  the  position  that  impenitent  persons  were 
in  heaven  at  the  time  of  the  funeral  sermon ;  members 
of  his  own  congregation  affirm  that  he  does  not  believe 
in  any  future  punishment ;  and  then  all  of  a  sudden 
he  affirms,  or  seeins  to  affirm,  that  he  does.f  What 
sort  of  a  system  is  that  ?  A  system  with  such  a  ser- 
pentine track  is  worthy  of  its  origin. 

II.  I  said,  the  moral  tendencies  of  the  system  might 
be  seen  in  it^  method  of  preaching  and  propagation. 

*  Mr.  Palmer  makes  this  statement  more  particularly  of  those  within 
his  acquaintance,  and  at  the  time  of  his  acquaintance  four  or  five  years  • 
ago.  He  has  since  spoken  to  me  of  the  constant  vacillation  of  the  de- 
nomination, rendering  it  difficult  to  say  what  the  same  men  hold  for  any 
length  of  time,  t  The  testimony  of  all  these  persons  is  at  hand.  One 
of  them  is  the  writer  of  these  lectures. 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  179 

Let  me  not  dwell  on  this  point.  Is  not  its  style  of 
preaching  low  and  contentious  ?  *  Does  it  spend  its 
chief  strength  in  trying  to  make  men  love  G-od  with 
all  their  hearts,  and  their  neighbors  as  themselves  ? 
Does  it  labor  and  toil  to  m  ake  men  virtuous  and  pure, 
as  Christ  also  is  pure  ?  Does  it  seek  to  form  the  youth 
to  lofty  plans  and  aspirations,  and  to  reclaim  them 
from  the  tempter's  power  ?  Is  its  whole  influence  a 
blessing  to  young  men,  and  a  restraint  on  all  forms  of 
vice  in  the  community  ?  Or  is  it  the  chief  burden  of 
its  preaching,  to  dispel  all  dread  of  sin,  and  all  over- 
righteousness,  and  to  ridicule  and  abuse  other  denom- 
inations ?  Is  it  perpetually  seeking  to  get  into  a  wran- 
gle with  those  who  do  apply  the  restraint  of  Christ's 
gospel  to  the  love  of  sin  ?  And  how  long  could  its 
preachers  hold  out  to  preach,  were  there  no  Orthodoxy 
to  fight  with  and  to  furnish  themes  ?  Is  there  an  in- 
stance in  New  Hampshire,  indeed,  how  many  instances 
are  there  in  the  whole  country,  of  a  Universalist 
church  with  permanent  preaching,  except  where  one  or 
more  evangelical  churches  had  been  first  established, 
or  establishing,  to  which  it  might  attach  itself  like  a 
barnacle  and  swim,  or  fasten  itself  like  a  leach  to  draw 
blood  ?  And  were  all  the  evangelical  pulpits  to  be  shut 
up,  how  long  would  it  be  before  Universahsm  would 
preach  its  last  sermon  ?  And  its  weekly  battle — is  it 
against  iniquity  or  against  orthodoxy  ?  Does  it  aim 
chiefly  at  making  men  love  God,  or  hate  Calvmism  ? — 


*  A  few  such  preachers  as  E.  H.  Chapln  and  others  must  be  cheer- 
fully excepted  ;  the  remarks  apply  to  a  large  portion  of  the  denomina- 
tion, and  probably  to  nearly  all  of  the  rural  preachers.  Would  that 
exceptions  were  more  numerous. 


180  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

And  which  does  it  most  effectually  accomplish  ?  Does 
it  flourish  by  opposing  sin, — or  by  winking  at  it  ?  Does 
it  depend  for  acceptance  on  the  qualities  that  Paul 
requires  in  Timothy  and  Titus, — or  on  its  jovial  quali- 
ties, its  good-fellowships,  and  odd-fellowships,  its  boon 
companionships  and  high  times,  and  all  that  sort  of  in- 
fluence ?  What  annual  denominational  gatherings  in 
this  city  are  never  made  perfect  without  the  dance,  and 
sometimes  witness  whole  heaps  of  them  who  were  not 
slain  with  the  sword  ?  Let  those  who  have  seen  it 
most  and  know  it  best,  make  answer. 

III.  But  I  pass,  thirdly,  to  consider  the  moral  ten- 
dencies of  Universalism,  as  an  influence  on  its  hearers 
and  the  community. 

There  are  many  men  of  wealth,  some  of  respectable 
standing  and  high  general  character,  who  for  reasons 
of  their  own  choose  to  support  that  system.  Some  of 
its  supporters,  indeed,  see  through  it  from  end  to  end. 
But  some  were  educated  in  that  belief.  Others,  for 
the  sake  of  their  friends,  wish  to  find  it  true.  There 
are  many  others,  some  of  them  young  and  lively, 
who  know  little  about  the  real  character  of  the  system, 
and  have  never  reflected  on  its  influence ;  but  who 
have  floated  into  the  current  around  them,  and  are 
sporting  in  it  as  a  kind  of  summer  sea.  Let  such  in- 
dividuals consider  themselves  exempted,  so  far  as  they 
deserve,  from  my  general  remarks. 

As  a  general  moral  and  religious  influence,  Uni- 
versalism has  both  a  negative  and  a  positive  influence. 
There  are  some  things  it  does  not  do,  and  some  that  it 
does. 

1.  There  are  some  things  it  does  not  do.     (1.)  It 


MORAL   TENDENCIES.  181 

does  not  lead  to  the  confession  of  Christ  before  men. 
Now  the  apostles  formed  churches,  ohserved  the  or- 
dinances of  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  made 
arrangements  to  maintain  mutual  Christian  conference, 
and  purity  of  life.  So  has  evangelical  religion  invari- 
bly  done.  Not  so  does  Universalism.  The  formation 
of  a  church  is  the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  Whit- 
temore  himself  admits,  after  Ballon  2nd,  that  "  more 
than  two-thirds "  of  their  congregations  have  no 
churches.*  The  truth  is,  the  thing  is  not  attempted, 
I  believe,  except  in  the  larger  places,  where  respecta- 
bility renders  it  necessary.  And  there,  how  meagre 
the  number  of  those  who  are  willing  to  go  through 
even  the  form  of  confessing  Christ — although  both 
Whittemore  and  Ballon,  Senior,  propose  to  abolish  all 
distinction  between  church  and  congregation,!  and  to 
have  the  whole  congregation  join  in  the  ordinance,  just 
as  the  whole  community,  says  Ballou,  "joins  in  cele- 
brating our  national  independence."  But  the  congre- 
gation doubtless  feel,  as  was  once  said  to  Smith,  that 
i/ifl^  would  "be  carrying  the  joke  quite  too  far."  And 
well  they  may,  when  the  leader  himself  endorses  the 
sentiment  of  Ballou  2nd,  that  he  "  has  doubts  of  the 
existence  of  ordinances  in  Christianity."^  And  the 
very  latest  intelligence  is,  that  the  proposed  oblitera- 
tion of  the  line  between  church  and  congregation  is 
begun.  "  In  several  of  the  Western  States,"  says  the 
Universalist  Companion  for  1857,  "  we  are  reorgan- 
izing. Societies  and  churches  are  organized  under 
one  Constitution,  and  are  termed  '  Churches.'     This  is 


*  Plain  Guide,  p.  326.     t  lb.  p.  332.      Voice  to  Un.  p.  20.     X  Plaia 
Guide,  p.  325. 


182  LECTURES   ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

as  it  should  be,"  adds  the  editor.*  Happy  times,  in- 
deed, for  Universalism,  when  the  distinctive  badges  o^ 
Christianity  are  laid  aside ! 

(2.)  It  does  not  lead  men  to  earnest  prayerful  study 
of  God's  word.  At  most,  it  leads  men  to  cull  out  isola- 
ted passages  from  the  Bible.  It  presumes  that  they  do 
not  habitiially  and  devoutly  search  the  Scriptures,  or 
it  would  never  venture  on  such  reckless  perversions  as 
I  have  exposed  in  your  presence.  And  where  men 
have  gone  prayerfully  and  humbly  to  the  Bible,  willing 
to  be  taught,  there  are  abundant  instances  in  which 
they  have  abandoned  Universalism. 

(3.)  It  does  not  lead  to  habits  of  prayer.  At  the 
time  when  Matthew  Hale  Smith  first  published  his 
book,  he  wa^  able  testify  that  neither  himself  nor  any 
minister  of  that  denomination,  whom  he  knew,  had 
observed  family  prayer. f  Adin  Ballon,  quoted  in  the 
same  volume,  also  asserted  that  his  former  brethren 
regarded  family  prayers,  blessings  at  meals,  "  as  idle 
ceremonies. "I  After  the  publication  of  his  book,  some 
change  was  introduced,  to  stop  the  mouths  of  the  or- 
thodox. But  I  infer  that  it  could  not  have  been  very 
extensive  or  lasting.  My  informant  from  Maine  says 
thus :  "  Among  Universalists,  (and  I  am  very  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  ministry,)  I  never  ■  knew  a  person 
who  prayed,  except  the  ministry,  and  they  never  ex- 
cept officially  or  when  pressed  to  it  in  private. "§  Why 
should  they?  Says  the  Rev.  0.  A.  Skinner,  "The 
change  which  our  devotions  are  intended  to  make,  is 
upon   ourselves,  not  upon  the  Almighty."  ||      Prayer, 

*  Un.  Comp.  for  1857,  edited  by  Rev.  A.  B.  Grosh,  p.  48.  t  Univ. 
Ex.  p.  227.  X  lb.  p.  296.  §  J.  M.  Palmer.  ||  Univ.  111.  and  Def.  p. 
831 ;  quoted  from  N.  D.  George. 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  183 

as  an  asking  of  God,  is  made  a  meaningless  form. 
And  for  a  genuine  prayer-meeting,  such 'as  is  found  in 
thousands  of  evangelical  churches  in  the  country,  in 
the  whole  Universalist  denomination  where  are  there 
twenty — yea,  regularly  maintained  for  a  series  of 
years,  may  I  not  safely  ask,  where  is  there  one  ?  It 
does  not  naturally  lead  men  to  pray  even  on  the  death- 
bed. The  Universalist  may  pray  there,  but  it  is  of  no 
account ;  he  has  no  need  of  it, — there  is  nothing  to  be 
gained  by  it,  on  his  system.  A  few  years  since,  a 
stone-cutter  of  Manchester,  a  strong  Universalist,  who 
had  parted  from  his  wife  because  he  could  not  keep 
both  his  wife  and  his  bottle,  went  home  to  Bedford 
sick,  and  declining  toward  death.  As  he  was  about 
to  pass  away,  his  mother  told  him  that  his  end  was 
near,  and  asked  him  to  say  the  Lord's  prayer.  "  I 
won't,"  was  the  answer.  The  mother  urged — but  she 
gained  no  other  reply  than  "  I  won't."  And  so  he 
died.  Now  I  say,  that  was  consistent  Universalism. 
He  was  at  his  last  gasp ;  there  was  nothing  to  gain  in 
this  world,  not  even  any  further  influence  on  himself: 
in  the  next  world  it  would  make  no  difference  whether 
he  prayed  or  not,  or  what  he  did :  so  he  died  consist- 
ent, and  said,  "  I  won't  pray." 

(4.)  Universalism  does  not  lead  to  Missionary  efforts 
or  reformatory  labors.  Christian  denominations  push 
forth  among  the  heathen,  and  are  dotting  the  world 
with  their  sparks  of  light.  Universalism' s  missionary 
labors  are  confined  to  crusades  against  Christian 
churches.  For  a  considerable  time,  the  denomination 
was  opposed  to  Sabbath-schools,  and  to  the  temperance 
movement ;  and  though  necessity  compelled  a  change 


184  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

on  both  those  points,  I  suppose  it  is  safe  to  say,  that 
more  opposers  of  temperance  are  found  in  the  few 
Universalist  societies  of  New  England  than  in  all  the 
evangelical  societies  put  together, — though  the  latter 
are  scores  of  times  more  numerous. 

(5.)  Universalism  does  not  reform  the  vicious.  The 
evangelical  churches  can  point  to  hundreds  and  thous- 
ands of  vicious  men  reclaimed,  by  conversion,  to  a  vir- 
tuous and  holy  life.  They  can  point  even  to  profligate 
men,  formerly  of  the  Universalist  belief,  made  exem- 
plary by  conversion.  Now  there  are  moral  men  among 
Universalists,  but  where  are  the  men  who  have  been 
made  so  by  their  Universalism  ?  Where  is  the  man 
who  can  stand  up  and  say,  "  I  was  a  drunkard,  a  gam- 
bler, profane,  licentious,  a  Sabbath-breaker,  prayerless : 
but  I  became  a  Universalist,  and  instantly  I  lost  all 
relish  for  these  things."  Among  the  multitude  of  dis- 
solute persons  to  whom  Universalism  has  free  access, 
where  does  it  point  to  a  single  trophy  of  the  kind  ? 
Where  is  there  a  dissolute  young  man  in  this  city,  that 
has  been  reformed  by  embracing  Universalism,  or 
restrained  in  vice  by  attending  Universalist  preaching  ? 
Show  us  the  man. 

Nay,  friends,  Universalism  does  none  of  these  things, 
and  every  one  of  you  knows  it.     But  there  are 

2.  Some  things  which  it  does. 

(1.)  It  often  marks  the  transition  of  a  nominal 
Christian  to  a  prayerless,  ungodly  life.  Let  an  ortho- 
dox man  turn  Universalist,  and,  if  he  prayed  before,  it 
is  quite  certain  he  will  soon  cease  ;  or  let  such  a  man 
become  vicious,  and  the  probabilities  are  that  he  will 
turn  Universalist  or  open  infidel.     The  second  Univer- 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  185 

salist  society  of  Lynn  is  a  case  in  point,  where,  at  its 
formation,  nearly  all  its  leading  members  were  Metlio 
dist  backsliders,  men  who  had  lost  their  religion. 

(2.)  It  enlists  the  warm  support  and  sympathy  of 
the  vicious,  in  their  sins.  When  such  men  follow  their 
inclinations,  unrestrained  by  considerations  of  relation- 
ship, business  or  respectability,  if  they  go  to  any  meet- 
ing, it  will  be  to  a  Universalist  one.  When  I  was  a 
boy,  that  was  the  mark  by  which  I  used  to  learn  of  the 
occasional  coming  of  a  Universalist  preacher  to  the 
town.  The  way  sparkled  with  all  the  ruby  faces  of 
the  town.  There  were  indeed  some  respectable  men 
among  them, — but  Universalism,  and  Universalism 
alone,  was  sure  to  call  out  the  drunkards,  and  profane. 
They  went  to  hear ;  and  returned  —  to  their  cups  and 
their  oaths.  And  that  is  the  difference  between  the 
preaching  of  Christ,  and  of  Universalism.  We  are 
sometimes  told  that  the  publicans  and  harlots  went  to 
hear  Christ !  Yes,  but  under  his  preaching,  Christ 
said,  "  the  publicans  and  harlots  went  into  the  kingdom 
of  heaven ;"  but  under  Universalist  preaching,  the 
drunkards  and  profane  go  back  to  the  kingdom  of  hell. 
And  so  notorious  is  this  sympathy  and  support  from 
men  in  their  sins,  that  when  Mr.  Stevens,  of  Barnet, 
Vt,,  informed  my  friend  of  a  great  public  controversy, 
in  Danville,  Vt.,  between  a  Universalist  and  an  ortho- 
dox preacher,  and  added  that  the  friends  of  the  one 
party  resorted  to  the  hotel  and  held  grand  carousals 
there,  his  auditor  had  no  occasion  to  ask  whose  friends 
they  were. 

(8.)  Universalism  actually  produces  in  the  bulk  of 
its  hearers  an  entire  indifference  to  vital  religion.     On 


186  LECTUEES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

this  point  hear  their  own  men :  Rev.  J.  George  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  (said  by  the  editor  of  the  Gospel 
Banner  to  be  one  of  the  best  ministers,)  in  June,  1849, 
writes  thus  to  that  paper :  Speaking  of  the  claims  of 
vital  religion  upon  the  heart,  he  says,  "  it  is  a  shameful 
truth  that  this  important  demand  of  the  gospel  is 
almost  entirely  neglected  in  the  denomination.  Vital 
piety,  a  new  heart,  and  a  prayerful  and  holy  life,  as  the 
first  obligation  in  the  New  Testament,  has  but  few  ad- 
vocates in  the  order."*  Is  there  a  man  living  that 
dares  deny  his  statement  ?  Even  Mr.  Whittemore  was 
constrained  to  confess,  "  The  morals  of  the  Univer- 
salist  woidd,  and  must,  in  the  very  nature  of  things, 
be  purer  than  the  morals  of  those  operated  upon  by 
different  opinions,  were  it  not  that  he  makes  his  religion 
too  much  a  thing;  of  theory  and  too  little  a  thing'  of 
practice.  This  is  the  fault  of  many  Universalists."t 
It  must  be  confessed,  I  think,  a  slight  religious  defect, 
when  a  denomination's  purity  of  morals  is  a  "  thing  of 
theory  "  and  not  "  a  thing  of  practice." 

Accordingly  it  is  remarkable  that  from  those  who 
have  abandoned  Universalism,  there  comes  one  unani- 
mous testimony  to  its  entire  destitution  of  all  religious 
life.  Says  Rev.  J.  M.  Palmer  of  his  former  acquaint- 
ances, "  Of  course  there  are  some  noble-minded  men ; 
but  I  know  of  no  one  who  seems  to  me  a  Christian,  or 
who  approximates  thereto.  I  feel  that  they  are  set 
forth  in  the  Bible  generally,  as  '  men  of  corrupt  minds, 
reprobates  concerning  the  faith '  —  'in  all  whose 
thoughts  God  is  not.'  "     Now,  members  of  evangelical 


*  Gospel  Banner,  June,  1849.     Quoted  from  George's  Univ.  not  of 
the  Bible,  p.  383.     t  Plain  Guide,  p.  283. 


MOEAL  TENDENCIES.  187 

denominations,  Baptists,  Presbyterians,  Congregation- 
alists,  and  others,  are  continually  interchanging  their 
ecclesiastical  relations  ;  but  whatever  their  preferences, 
they  never  fail  to  feel  and  testify  to  the  christian  integ- 
rity and  deep-toned  piety  of  the  great  bulk  of  the 
church  they  have  left.  On  the  other  hand,  they  that 
abandon  Universalism,  never  fail  to  testify  that  the 
system  has  no  religious  life.  Their  agreement  is 
remarkable.  Even  the  Universalist  Quarterly  Review 
admits  the  agreement ;  for  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Fernald, 
(who  abandoned  the  denomination  by  outstripping 
them,)  it  commends  him,  as  having,  with  few  excep- 
tions, little  in  common  with  the  vulgar  herd  of  apos- 
tates, who  in  times  past  sought  to  malign  the  party 
they  had  deserted."* 

As  I  once  sat  listening  to  a  Universalist  discourse, 
and  gazed  around  on  the  faces  of  those  who  were 
greedily  devouring  the  promise  of  eternal  life,  I  had  a 
curious  thought  pass  through  my  mind,  and  it  was 
this :  Suppose  all  these  young  men  and  women  were 
actually  this  moment  transferred  to  heaven,  the  heaven 
of  God,  where  Christ  and  all  the  holy  dwell  in  holy 
bliss  forever — and  suppose,  by  some  unaccountable 
arrangement,  the  gates  of  heaven  were  left  unclos- 
ed, and  the  way  open  down  to  the  dancing  halls,  and 
oyster  shops,  and  liquor  saloons,  and  similar  places 
here  below — how  many  of  these   persons   would  be 

found  in  heaven  at   the  end  of  fifteen  minutes  ? 

No,  my  hearers,  Universalism  does  not  cultivate  a 
relish  for  holy  pleasures,  for  the  presence  of  God  and 
Christ,  and  all  the  good. 


*  Un.  Quarterly  for  Jan.  1856,  p.  104. 


188  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

(4.)  Universalism  has  led,  and  is  constantly  leading, 
multitudes  of  men  into  every  species  of  iniquity.  It 
takes  off  all  efficient  control.  On  this  point  I  have  a 
mass  of  evidence,  the  evidence  of  facts ;  and  the  only 
difficulty  is  to  select. 

What  kind  of  e^adence  do  you  want,  and  from  what 
quarter  drawn  ?  Shall  it  be  from  those  who  once 
preached  the  doctrine  ?  Listen  then  to  Lewis  C.  Todd, 
of  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  once  a  zealous  editor  and 
preacher  of  Universalism,  afterwards  a  Methodist :  "  I 
candidly  aver  in  the  fear  of  God,  that  I  do  not  believe 
the  doctrine  ever  made  a  single  soul  any  better  than  he 
otherwise  would  have  been,  while  it  has  been  the  means 
of  removing  the  necessary  restraint  and  giving  latitude 
to  thousands  whose  propensities  and  passions  needed 
restraint,  whereby  they  have  indulged  in  criminal  pur- 
suits, and  gone  to  perdition."  When  this  testimony 
was  published  in  the  Millenial  Harbinger,  the  editor  of 
that  periodical  added,  "  I  am  personally  acquainted 
with  some  four  or  five  Universalian  preachers,  who 
have  joined  the  church  of  Christ  of  which  I  am  a  mem- 
ber, who  all  say  that  Mr.  Todd  speaks  their  experience, 
or  who  all  concur  with  him  in  their  opinion."*  Paul 
Dean  of  Boston,  who  left  the  denomination  in  1828, 
Ohas.  Hudson,  member  of  Congress  in  1843,  and  Adin 
Ballou,  have  lifted  up  a  similar  testimony  in  regard  to 
the  moral  tendency  of  the  doctrine.  Mr.  Smith  gives 
the  names  of  more  than  twenty  ministers,  who  have 
borne  similar  witness. f 

Would  you  have  the  confession  of  a  body   of  Uni- 


*  Arvine's  Cyclop.,  sec.  424. 

t  Univ.  Exam.  p.  293.    Extracts  are  given  in  the  volume. 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  189 

versalist  ministers  themselves  ?  In  the  month  of 
July,  1835,  so  says  the  Trumpet  of  July  11th,  the  Uni- 
versalist  Convention  of  Maine,  passed  a  resolve  recom- 
mending to  the  societies  of  Maine, "  that  no  man  known 
to  be  addicted  to  the  habit  of  drunkenness,  or  gam- 
bling, or  profane  swearing,  or  who  is  an  unbeliever  of 
Christianity,  should  be  appointed  to  office  in  the  socie- 
ties."* Would  it  not  be  high  times,  when  the  Maine 
Conference  of  Congregational  mi  nisters  should  need  to 
pass  such  a  vote  ? 

Will  you  hear  a  warning  from  the  prison  ?     Listen 
then  to  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Finley,  (Methodist,)  chaplain 
of  the  Ohio  Penitentiary  from  1846  to  1850.     Says  he 
"  I  found    s  ome   hardened  infidels  in  these  dungeon 
cells.     They  were  steeped  in  crime  ;  and  their  souls 
were  as  hard  as  the  granite  rock.     They  had  been 
cursed  and  ruined  by  bad  books, ....  and   most   of 
them  had  gone  to  infidelity  through  the  convenient 
do9rway  of  Universalism."§     Again,  "  I  consider  Uni- 
versalism  the  worst  form  of  infidelity.     Nearly  all  the 
prisoners  have  been  infected  with  it,  while  in  their 
career  of  vice.     Nothing  else,  they  say,  could  have 
held  them  up  in  crime  at  the  risk  of  life  at  every  step 
they  took,  but  the  conviction  which  they  tried  hard  to  en- 
tertain, that  after  a  life  of  stealing,  house-breaking,  rob- 
bing, plundering  and  murder,  they  would  certainly  go 
to  sit  down  with  the  patriarchs  in  heaven  !     Oh,  what 
a  soul-damning  error  !     It  has  ruined  millions  of  the 
human  family  !  "     Again,  (  p.  122,  )  "  To-day  we  had 
-a  great  many  visitors  and  among  them  a  large  number 


*Quoted  byN.  D.  George,  p.  384.    t  Memorials  of  Prison  Life  p.  31, 


190  LECTURES  ON  UNIYERSALISM. 

of  Universalist  ministers.  The  latter  looked  through 
the  prison  with  great  interest.  I  thought  in  my  heart 
as  they  were  going  round,  that  their  doctrines  had 
sent  many  of  these  wretched  men  to  this  fearful  place  ; 
and  this  was  a  fact  that  I  could  prove  by  a  score  of 
confessions,  perhaps  twice  or  three  times  a  score,  given 
me  by  the  convicts  themselves.  About  thirty  of  these 
inmates  are  here  for  murder.  How  cruel,  how  wicked, 
how  unjust,  said  I  to  myself,  as  these  ministers  were 
walking  about,  to  commit  these  thirty  men  to  this 
gloomy  prison  during  life,  for  the  meritorious  act  of 
sending  an  equal  number  of  their  suffering  fellow- 
mortals  from  the  cares  of  this  world  to  the  everlasting 
joys  of  heaven.  Oh,  folly  !  what  a  doctrine  of  devils 
is  this  !  what  a  responsibility  have  these  men  assumed  ! 
I  was  glad  to  find,  that,  as  soon  as  their  character  be- 
came known,  they  were  looked  down  upon  by  many  of 
the  degraded  prisoners  themselves."  Thus  testifies 
Mr.  Finley.  And  he  furnishes  a  narrative  given  by  one 
of  the  prisoners,  who  having  tried  Atheism,  and  after- 
wards Deism,  in  vain,  was  at  length  pacified  in  his  ca- 
reer of  crime  by  the  preaching  of  a  Universalist  minis- 
ter.* 

Would  you  hear  a  voice  from  the  death  bed  of  a 
converted  profligate  ?  Listen  to  Nathan  Dyer,  (of  Steu- 
ben, Washington  Co.,  Me.,)  who  died  on  the  11th  of 
April,  1835,  sending  his  dying  testimony  to  the  con- 
gregation, that  Universalism,  the  doctrine  of  his  life, 
was  a  fatal  and  soul-ruining  system.  He  had  tried 
hard  to  discard  the  Bible  wholly  ;  he  could  not  resist 
the  evidence  that  it  came  from  God.     "  He  was  led  to 

*  Id.  pp.  113—117. 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  191 

enquire  whether  he  could  not  be  a  believer  in  Christi- 
anity, and  yet  deny  all  that  he  deemed  offensive  in  its 
doctrines,  and  uncomfortable  in  its  restraints."  He  fell 
in  with  Universalism :  it  fulfilled  the  condition.  It 
promised  him  impunity  in  sin.  Shrinking  from  all 
discussions,  and  from  all  Scripture  that  implied  eternal 
punishment,  he  hugged  Universalism  to  his  heart,  and 
plunged  madly  in  a  course  of  vice,  from  which  he  rest- 
ed not  till  God's  arrow  pierced  his  vitals.  Then,  in 
that  lingering  disease,  he  was  led  by  his  own  reflec- 
tions to  see  his  ruin,  to  embrace  the  cross,  and  lift  up 
his  word  against  the  awful  delusion  that  had  buoyed 
him  up  in  sin.* 

Would  you  have  a  warning  from  the  death-bed  of 
the  hardened  profligate  ?  Listen  to  the  words  of  the 
dying  Universalist,  Frost,  of  Sherburne,  Mass.  See 
him  running  down  three  years  with  consumption,  yet 
frightfully  profane  and  reckless  to  the  very  last ;  and 
saying  that  he  wanted  no  funeral  sermon,  and  cared 
not  how  they  disposed  of  his  body,  —  he  should  be  well 
off.f 

Would  you  hear  the  testimony  of  the  dying  mother 
of  three  profligate  sons, — all  of  whom  had  separated 
from  their  wives  without  divorce,  two  of  whom  were 
living  with  other  women,  and  one  if  not  two  of  whom 
had  been  in  jail  for  theft  ?     Listen,  then,  to  the  sad 

wail  of  the  dying  Mrs. ,  of  Salisbury : — "When 

my  husband  became  a  Universalist,  it  was  the  ruin  of 
my  sons. "J 

Would  you  desire  the  witness  of  intelligent  observers 


*  Rider's  Lectures,  p.  274,  etc.    t  Furnished  by  Rev.  T.  P.  Sawin. 
I  The  author  is  responsible  for  the  fact. 


192  LECTURES  ON  UKIVERSALISM. 

in  large  places  ?  In  a  large  inland  city  of  New  Eng- 
land, several  reliable  men,  some  of  tliem  having  pecul- 
iar means  of  knowledge,  have  stated  to  me  that  most 
of  the  members  of  the  Universalist  church  in  that  place 
are  more  or  less  in  the  habit  of  using  profane  language ; 
and  the  intelligent  keeper  of  a  restaurateur,  though  in- 
clined to  speak  favorably  of  the  Universalist  minister 
there,  yet  in  the  same  conversation  volunteered  to  my 
informant  (a  Baptist  minister,)  this  remark :  "  Him- 
dreds  of  young  persons  are  going  down  to  destruction 

through  the  influence  of  Mr. ,"  the  Universalist 

preacher. 

Would  you  hear  from  the  duelist  the  night  before 
he  was  shot  ?  Hear  Jonathan  Cilley,  Member  of  Con- 
gress from  Maine,  in  conversation  with  a  pious  lady, 
in  Washington,  the  night  before  he  was  killed  by 
Graves  of  Kentucky.  "  He  confessed  that,  with  the 
religious  views  that  the  lady  entertained,  he  should  be 
deterred  from  fighting  the  duel.  But  as  a  Universal- 
ist, he  had  nothing  to  fear ;  if  he  shot  his  antagonist, 
the  world  would  justify  him ;  but  if  he  was  killed,  his 
soul  would  immediately  ascend  to  heaven."* 

Would  you  hear  the  testimony  of  the  suicide  ?  Lis- 
ten to  the  letter  of  Cyrus  C.  Crawford  of  Plymouth  N. 
H.  He  was  a  Universalist  and  the  son  of  a  zealous 
Universalist.  Detected  as  a  counterfeiter,  he  lay  in 
Lowell  jail  awaiting  his  trial,  in  1840.  He  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  mother,  saying,  "  he  had  got  into  trouble — 
trouble  for  life — and  he  thought  he  would  get  out  of 
it  in  the  shortest  way."  "  He  bade  his  friends  farewell 
till  they  should  meet  in  an  unknown  world  where 


*  tJn.  Exam.  p.  325. 


MORAL  TENDENCIES.  193 

parting  is  not  known."*  And  so  like  a  consistent  Uni- 
versalist,  who  preferred  the  free  range  of  Paradise  to  a 
seven-foot  cell  with  an  iron  bedstead,  he  made  his  leap, 
as  he  thought,  into  heaven. 

Would  you  hear  from  the  suicide  nearer  home  ?  In 
the  summer  of  1854,  in  the  city  of  Manchester,  two 
young  women,  under  the  influence  of  disappointment, 
one  day  dressed  themselves  in  white,  plunged  into  the 
upper  canal,  and  perished.  Those  two  young  women, 
but  a  Sabbath  or  two  before,  had  gone  and  heard  a 
discourse  teaching  that  all  men  go  to  heaven ;  and  in 
their  conversations  with  a  friend  of  theirs,  who  stated 
it  to  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Coburn  at  the  time,  they  had 
affirmed  that  "  they  should  go  right  to  heaven,  and  it 
was  best  to  get  rid  of  trouble." 

Now,  as  a  fearful  comment  on  all  this,  read  in  the 
Trumpet,  where  Thomas  Whittemore  gravely  argues, 
that  the  punishment  of  suicide  "  lies  in  the  intention 
to  commit  it "  and  all  takes  place  beforehand  ; — and 
listen  to  Rev.  A.  B.  Grosh,  in  the  Magazine  &  Advo- 
cate, questioning  whether  suicide  even  has  always  an 
evil  intention  !f 

Now  in  reply  to  these  cases  and  the  like,  I  know  we 
shall  hear  the  customary  declamation,  that  men  of  all 
religions  are  guilty  of  crime.  But,  I  beg  you  will  ob- 
serve, that  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  :  I 
have  cited  these  sad  facts,  not  in  proof  that  Universal- 


*  George,  p.  391.     Smith,  p.  324. 

t  Trumpet  No.  676 ;  Mag.  ami  Advo.  Vol.  8,  p.  358.  Quoted  by 
Rev.  N.  D.  George,  p.  318.  Hosea  Ballou  advocates  the  view  that  tuc 
punishment  of  suicide  takes  place  at  the  time  and  in  the  act.  Whittc- 
more's  Life  of  Ballou,  Vol.  3. 

13 


194  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

ists  commit  crime,  but  that  their  Universalism  ivas 
the  actual,  direct  and  avowed  encourag-ement  to  their 
crime.     And  I  have  given  yon  facts,  and  not  theories. 

Bear  in  mind  that  such  are  the  influences  of  this 
pernicious  system,  notwithstanding  its  limited  number 
of  preachers,  notwithstanding  all  the  counteracting 
restraints  of  the  law  and  of  a  preached  gospel  all 
around  ; — and  you  can  well  agree  with  a  distinguished 
judge  in  the  Middle  States,  who  replied  to  the  Univer- 
salist  minister  thus :  "  This,  sir,  I  do  believe,  that 
were  all  clergymen  to  preach  this  doctrine  that  you 
preach,  there  would  soon  be  a  hell  in  this  world,  if  not 
in  the  next." 

Thus  you  perceive,  my  hearers,  that  this  system  is 
consistent  with  itself  from  beginning  to  end.  In  its 
nature  and  its  character ;  in  the  obvious  marks  which 
it  wears  on  its  front ;  in  its  inner  economy  of  life,  its 
argument — its  deceitful  method  of  dealing  with  God's 
word ;  in  its  perversion  of  God's  attributes  and  its 
appeal  to  human,  unregenerate  passions ;  and  in  its 
actual  moral  tendencies,  the  slime  that  tracks  its  way ; — 
all  is  in  keeping.  Can  you  wonder  that  men  who  un- 
derstand that  system  in  all  its  windings,  loathe,  and 
abhor,  and  despise  the  system,  however  fair  may  be  the 
standing  of  many  of  its  adherents.  Can  you  wonder 
that  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Finley  should  call  it  "  the  doctrine 
of  devils,"  and  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Palmer  should  say,  "  it 
is  worse  than  Deism  ?"  Can  you  wonder  we  feel  that 
when  a  young  man  puts  himself  under  the  power  of 
that  heresy,  there  is  little  hope  of  him  for  the  world  to 
come,  and  great  danger  of  his  ruin  in  the  present  life  ? 
Or  that  to  its  preachers,  whatever  their  personal  char- 


MOEAL  TENDENCIES.  195 

acter,  yet  in  their  official  capacity,  we  assign  the  words 
of  the  prophet,  "  With  lies  ye  have  made  the  heart  of 
the  righteous  sad  whom  I  have  not  made  sad ;  and 
strengtliened  the  hands  of  the  wicked  tliat  he  should 
not  return  from  his  wicked  way,  by  promising  him  life." 
And  now  let  me  advise  the  members  of  my  congre- 
gation, never  to  countenance  the  preaching  of  that 
system  by  your  presence.  There  is  nothing  to  be 
learned,  as  you  well  know.  The  system,  as  you  are 
well  satisfied,  is  false.  Leave  it  in  its  rottenness.  I 
went  once  to  hear  it  deal  with  Scripture.  I  went, 
however,  not  from  curiosity,  but  for  purposes  of  use 
and  duty.  That  duty  now  is  done  ; — for  I  have  ex- 
posed to  you  the  corrupt  and  corrupting  character  of 
the  system  that  denies  a  future  retribution. 

Let  us  live,  my  hearers,  henceforth,  in  view  of  the 
great  and  awful  truth  to  which  our  minds  have  been 
turned  in  this  discussion.  Let  us  remember  habitually, 
"  it  is  appointed  unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this 
the  judgment" — that  "  we  must  all  appear  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may  receive 
the  things  done  in  his  body,  according  to  that  he  hath 
done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad."  Death  rolls  on 
apace  ;  and  as  death  leaves  us,  the  judgment  finds  us. 

Do  I  speak  to  some  adherent  of  the  system  ?  And 
shall  it  be  in  vain,  my  friend,  that  I  have  shown  you 
the  system  in  a  light  in  which  you  have  not  seen  it 
before — its  hollowness  within — its  sophistry  and  dishon- 
esty— its  dangerous  and  immoral  tendencies — the  cha- 
otic condition  of  its  very  ministry,  not  daring  publicly 
to  avow  the  sentiments  they  hold,  but  ever  moving- 
downward  and   downward,  till  their   infidelity  breaks 


196  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERBALISM. 

out  of  its  hiding-place.  Shall  it  be  in  vain  that  you 
look  in  on  their  vacillation  and  discordance  ?  And 
when  these  men  stand  up  to  be  sponsors  for  God  to  all 
eternity — dare  you  trust  your  hopes  to  such  blind 
guides  ?  "  If  the  blind  lead  the  blind,"  said  the  Sav- 
ior, "  both  shall  fall  into  the  ditch." 

Remember  there  are  times  when  some  of  these  men 
are  troubled  at  heart  with  their  own  doings.  They 
may,  they  must,  speak  boldly  abroad,  when  their  souls 
quail  within.  It  is  not  in  human  nature  to  defy  the 
whole  force  of  God's  word,  without  fearful  misgivings. 
Within  the  last  six  years,  there  died  in  Pittsfield,  Mass., 
a  rich  but  very  dissolute  man, — a  Universalist.  Just 
before  the  funeral,  the  Rev.  Mr.  H.,  a  Methodist  min- 
ister, visiting  his  brother  the  Universalist  preacher, 
found  him  walking  his  room,  apparently  in  great  dis- 
tress. "  What  is  the  trouble,"  inquired  the  Methodist. 
"  Ah,"  replied  the  Universalist,  "  they  want  me  to  put 
that  man  into  heaven,  but  he  is  not  there,  he  is  not 
there  !"  You  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
preacher  soon  left  the  Universalist  ministry.  But  why, 
oh !  why  did  he  not  tell  that  profligate  that  he  would 
not  go  to  heaven,  before  he  died  ? 

Oh !  what  an  awful  responsibility  rests  on  him  who 
flatters  men  that  they  shall  surely  enter  heaven,  when 
every  step  takes  hold  on  death  and  hell !  And  what  a 
meeting  in  that  other  world,  when  the  deceiver  and  his 
victim — he  that  recklessly  preached,  and  he  that  greed- 
ily heard,  the  soul  destroying  doctrine — shall  gaze  in 
each  other's  faces,  and  shall  read,  written  in  lines  of 
eternal  despair, — "  The  unrighteous  shall  not  inherit 

THE  kingdom  of  GoD  !" 


LECTURE   SEVENTH. 

EESTORATIONIST  VIEWS  AMONG  UNIVERSALIS TS. 

Matt.  XXV :  46.    And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punishment 
but  the  righteous  into  life  eternal. 

In  these  words  does  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  describe  the 
duration  of  human  retribution, — everlasting  punish- 
ment, and  life  eternal.  And  my  hearers  will  take 
notice,  that  though  our  English  version  employs  two 
different  words, — "everlasting"  and  "eternal," — the 
term  used  in  the  original  Greek  is  in  each  case  pre- 
cisely the  same.  It  is,  moreover,  the  very  same  term, 
which,  elsewhere  in  the  New  Testament,  (Rom.  16 : 
26,)  describes  the  duration  of  God's  own  existence, 
when  he  is  called  "  the  everlasting  God." 

The  solemn  narration,  of  which  this  forms  the  con- 
clusion, sets  forth  the  final  judgment.  The  Son  of 
Man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all  the  holy  angels 
with  him.  He  shall  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
and  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  nations ;  and  he 
shall  separate  them  one  from  another,  as  a  shepherd 
divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats.  The  sheep,  his  own 
chosen  flock,  he  sets  on  his  right  hand ;  he  calls  them 
"  ye  blessed  of  my  Father."  They  are  "  the  righteous," 
They  include  not  merely  those  who  may  have  known 
the  Savior  in  person,  but  the  righteous  through  all 
time  ;  for  their  Christian  offices  had  been  rendered,  not 
unto  him,  but  unto  "  the  least  of  his  brethren."     The 


198  LECTUEES   ON   UNIVERSALISM. 

kingdom  awaiting  the  righteous,  was  "  prepared  for 
them  before  the  foundation  of  the  world."  Those 
whom  he  sets  on  his  left  hand,  he  calls  "  ye  cursed." 
They  had  not  withholden  from  Christ  in  person,  but 
they  had  refused  the  offices  of  piety  towards  him  in 
the  least  of  his  brethren.  And,  as  the  home  of  the 
righteous  was  prepared  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  so,  we  are  told,  the  wicked  are  commanded  to 
depart  "  into  everlasting  fire  prepared  for  the  devil  and 
his  angels."  "  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlast- 
ing or  eternal  punishment,  but  the  righteous  into  life 
everlasting  or  eternal."  Thus  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
in  the  same  breath,  declares  the  duration  of  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  wicked,  and  of  the  rew^ard  of  the  right- 
eous, by  the  very  same  word, — and  that,  a  word  than 
which  there  is  no  stronger  in  the  Greek  language  to 
denote  the  coming  eternity  of  God.  Enough,  then, 
that  the  pains  of  hell  shall  be  coeval  with  the  happiness 
of  heaven, — and  both  of  them  with  the  ceaseless  years 
of  God. 

Against  this  and  other  plain  declarations  of  God's 
word,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is  a  considerable  body  of 
men,  who,  though  pretending  to  receive  the  Bible, 
boldly  deny  that  there  shall  be  any  punishment  at  all 
after  death.  Their  doctrine  I  have  sufficiently  shown 
to  be  no  obsolete  thing,  but  a  living  system  of  the 
present  day,  the  published  doctrine  of  the  Universalist 
denomination.  No  different  doctrine  has  for  many 
years  been  distinctly  put  forth  in  the  printed  volumes 
of  the  denomination.  So  far  as  can  be  ascertamed,  it 
still  holds  undisputed  possession  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  Universalist  pulpits  and  periodical  literature. 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS,  199 

It  is  the  stated  spiritual  food  of  tlie  denomination. 
There  are  some  in  the  denomination,  however, — the 
smaller  and  better  portion, — who  do  not  deny  all 
future  punishment,  but  only  its  eternal  continuance. 
As  the  latter  view  is  much  less  glaringly  absurd  than 
the  former,  and  is  far  more  respectable  in  its  social 
position  and  influence,  it  is  not  unusual  for  those  who 
hold  it,  to  persuade  others  and  perhaps  themselves, 
that  it  is  somewhat  prevalent.  And  it  is  not  an  un- 
heard-of thing,  for  those  who  do  not  hold  this  view, 
when  hard  pressed  with  the  low  character  of  their  own 
system,  to  beat  a  temporary  retreat  behind  the  shelter 
and  the  respectability  of  Restorationism.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  meet  the  device,  I  propose,  in  the  present 
lecture,  very  brieflj^  to  consider  the  subject  of 

EESTORATIONIST    UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

To  do  this  satisfactorily,  requires  that  I  first  sketch 
the  history  of  the  system ;  after  which  I  will  examine 
its  foundation. 

I.  The  history  of  Restorationist  views  among  Uni- 
versalists. 

John  Murray  was  a  Restorationist.  So  were  Win- 
chester and  Mitchell ;  and  so  were  the  great  body  of 
Universalists  until  the  year  1818,  or  nearly  forty  years 
ago.  They  believed  in  punishment  after  death ;  but 
in  the  final  "  restoration"  of  all  men,  without  except- 
ion, to  endless  blessedness.  About  that  time,  Hosea 
Ballou  openly  announced  the  theory,  which  he  had 
held  in  private,  that  "  beyond  this  mortal  existence, 
the  Bible  teaches  no  other  sentient  state  but  that 
which  is  called  by  the  blessed  name  of  life  and  immor- 


200  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

tality."*  Mr.  Ballon  was  then  editor  of  the  principal 
Universalist  journal,  and  he  used  his  organ  so  effectu- 
ally that  he  soon  carried  nearly  the  whole  denom- 
ination with  him.  Many  individuals,  indeed,  opposed 
his  doctrine,  complained  of  his  unfairness  in  excluding 
them  from  the  use  of  his  journal,  and  threatened  se- 
cession. A  separation  did  take  place  in  1828,  when 
the  believers  in  future  punishment  organized  them- 
selves into  a  distinct  body,  called  Restorationists.  The 
Restorationist  movement,  as  a  separate  affair,  was  un- 
successful. Dr.  Baird  affirms  that  "  the  Restorationist 
preachers  in  the  United  States  hardly  exceed  twelve  or 
fifteen  in  number,  and  their  churches  are  even  fewer."f 
It  is  not  to  be  understood,  however,  that  all  who 
held  Restorationist  views,  joined  this  separate  move- 
ment. But  it  is  a  sad  commentary  on  the  character 
of  the  adherents  of  Universalism,  that  in  twelve  short 
years  from  the  time  when  Ballou  first  broached  his 
system,  the  great  body  of  Universalists  came  over  to 
his  views,  and  but  a  small  minority  continued  to  avow 
their  belief  in  any  future  punishment.  This  is  Mr. 
Whittemore's  own  showing.  His  Modern  History  of 
Universalism  was  published  in  1830.  During  the  pre- 
vious year  he  had  written  letters  to  prominent  Uni- 
versalist preachers  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
inquiring  what  proportion  of  the  denomination  around 
them  denied  all  future  suffering.  He  quotes  the 
answers  of  eleven  different  persons,^  residing  in  seven 
different  states  of  the  Union.     In  no  instance  did  the 


*  Whittemore's  Mod.  Hist,  of  Un.  p.  438.  t  Religion  in  America, 
(N.  y.,  1856,)  p.  565.  J  Modern  History  of  Universalism,  pp.  439  — 
441.  * 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS,  201 

writer  declare  that  a  majority  held  to  future  punish- 
ment. And  according  to  the  total  testimony,  the 
believers  in  future  discipline  in  the  denomination, 
were  both  insignificant  in  number,  and  quite  indif- 
ferent upon  the  subject.* 

From  that  time  onward,  the  ultra  Universalist  ele- 
ment seems  to  have  completely  occupied  the  field  ;  and 
Restorationism,  so  far  as  it  has  existed  in  the  denomi- 
nation, has  been  quite  thoroughly  muzzled.  The  stan- 
dard books  and,  with  faint  exceptions,  the  periodicals, 
have  distinctly  taught  no  different  doctrine  from  that 
of  Ballon  and  Whittemore,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 


*  The  strongest  case  for  Restorationism  was  given  by  Rev.  W.  A. 
Drew,  of  Maine,  who  said,  "  I  should  think  that  a  majority  of  our  breth- 
ren would  not  affirm  jDositively,  as  their  settled  belief,  that  thei'e  will,  or 
will  not  be  punishment  hereafter.  The  other  half  may  be  pretty  equally 
divided  on  the  subject."  "  Of  the  ministers,  five  are  open  disbelievers  o* 
any  future  punishment ;  eight  profess  to  believe  it,  but  most  of  them  do 
not  seem  to  be  strenuous  about  it :  and  the  remainder  are  studiously 
silent  on  the  subject." 

Rev.  S.  R.  Smith,  of  Clinton,  N.  Y.,  after  giving  it  as  his  opinion  that 
believers  in  future  punishment  are  "not  as  numerous  as  those  who  reject 
the  doctrine,"  adds  that  "this  is  a  subject  on  which  very  little  interest  is 
felt,  and  is  seldom  agitated  by  the  preachers." 

Rev.  A.  B.  Grosh,  then  of  Lancaster  Co.,  Pa.,  thought  that  not  more 
than  a  fifteenth  or  twentieth  part  of  the  denomination  around  him  be- 
lieved in  any  future  punishment. 

Alexander  McRae,  editor  of  the  Libei-alist,  in  Wilmington,  N.  C, 
writes  :  "  Universalists  in  this  state,  with  but  few  exceptions,  believe  ki 
no  punishment  after  death." 

Rev.  J.  Kidwell,  a  travelling  preacher  in  Ohio  and  Indiana,  says  : 
"  There  is  but  one  preacher  within  my  acquaintance,  calling  himself  a 
Universalist,  who  believes  in  any  future  punishment,  and  there  are  but 
few  private  individuals." 

Rev.  J.  C.  Waldo  of  Cincinnati,  says  that  he  learns  from  a  Mr.  R. 
who  is  thoroughly  acquainted  in  every  section  of  this  country,  that  "  the 
Restorationists  are  comparatively  nothing." 


202  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

A  good  illustration  of  the  state  of  things,  is  found  in 
the  case  of  Rev.  Russell  Streeter.  It  seems  that  in  the 
year  1844,  he  wrote,  in  the  Universalist  Watchman,  a 
series  of  letters  "  to  a  Young  Minister,"  in  which  he 
objected  to  the  views  of  Ballon,  and  contended  for  fu- 
ture accountability.  The  Gospel  Banner  of  Nov,  1844, 
commenting  upon  the  fact,  says,  "  He  is  a  Restoration- 
ist,  and  always  has  been.  The  number  of  snch  in  the 
denomination  is  not  small,  but  their  desire  for  the 
peace  of  the  order  has  caused  them  to  be  more  careful 
than  some  of  different  views  have  been,  as  to  commit- 
ting the  order  to  their  opinions."  Now  I  have  in  my 
possession  a  work  by  this  same  Russell  Streeter,  entitled, 
"  Familiar  Conversations,  in  which  the  salvation  of  all 
mankind  is  clear/?/  exhibited  and  illustrated.^''  The  edi- 
tion which  I  have  was  printed  in  the  same  year,  1844  ; 
but  so  careful  was  this  Restorationist  not  to  commit 
the  denomination  to  his  opinions,  that  I  have  looked 
through  it  in  vain  to  find  an  intimation  of  his  peculiar 
views.  And  (on  page  76)  he  distinctly  "  denies  that 
there  is  any  difference  which  deserves  to  be  called  es- 
sential," among  Universalists.  In  1849,  as  you  remem- 
ber, Mr.  Ballou  asserted,  "  Though  there  are  some  now 
who  believe  in  what  is  called  future  retribution,  we 
know  of  none  who  pretend  to  prove  it  by  Divine  reve- 
lation, or  dwell  upon  it  in  their  preaching."  The  ex- 
perience of  Rev,  Mr.  George  will  also  be  remembered, 
who,  within  a  few  months,  inquired  in  vain  at  the  Uni- 
versalist book-store  in  Boston,  for  any  volume  issued 
by  the  denomination,  teaching  future  retribution  ;  and 
sought  in  vain  for  the  doctrine  in  their  catechisms. 
Still   it  has   been   supposed  bj  some,  that  within  a 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS,  203 

very  few  years,  (some  four  or  six,)  Restoratioiiist  views 
have  been  reviving  in  the  denomination.  It  may  be 
true  that  some  leading  men  are  desirous  to  rise  from 
the  deep  degradation  of  bald  Universalism.  If  so, 
they  are  feeling  their  way  cautiously,  and,  thus  far, 
can  show  no  land-marks  of  their  progress.  There  have 
always  been  Restorationists  in  the  Universalist  ministry, 
but  they  have  commonly  held  their  places  on  condition 
of  holding  their  peace.  For  respectability's  sake,  many 
of  the  ministry  might  wisli  to  teach  some  future  pun- 
ishment ;  but  the  motley  group  that  compose  their  con- 
gregations, will  not  endure  it,  and  they  dare  not  preach 
it.  Since,  however,  the  majority  of  the  American 
Unitarian  Association  have  avowed  their  belief  in  the 
final  Restoration  of  all  men,  probably  many  Universal- 
ists  have  been  encouraged  with  the  hope  of  becoming 
connected  with  a  denomination  which  occupies  a  much 
more  genteel  position  in  society  ;  and  have  been  em- 
boldened by  their  support  to  look  favorably  on  the  long- 
proscribed  doctrine.  And  there  have  even  been  a  few, 
a  very  few,  instances  of  interchange  and  union  between 
the  churches  of  the  two  denominations. 

Entirely  incredulous  of  any  essentially  different  state 
of  things,  in  the  denomination  at  large,  from  that  to  which 
Mr.  Ballon  testified  seven  years  ago,  and  which  Mr. 
George  ascertained  a  fcAv  months  since,  I  determined 
to  go  to  head-quarters  for  information.  Accordingly, 
since  my  previous  lectvires  were  delivered,  I  wrote  to 
three  prominent  members  of  the  denomination,  who, 
as  I  supposed,  held  the  Restorationist  view  ;  Rev.  E. 
H.  Chapin  of  New  York,  Rev.  T.  Starr  King  of  Boston, 
and  Rev.  Eli  Ballou  of  Montpelier,  editor  of  the  Chris- 


204  LECTUEES   ON   UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

tian  Repository,  I  asked  them  if  they  would  refer  me 
to  some  book  or  treatise,  that  advocates  the  views  of 
the  Restoratioiiists.  Mr.  Ballon  first  replied  to  my  in- 
quiry ;  and  in  a  very  courteous  note,  dated  Sept.  25, 
1856,  he  mentions  three  books  which  teach  that  doc- 
trine, viz  :  Winchester's  Dialogues,  Petitpierre  on  the 
Divine  Goodness,  and  T.  Southwood  Smith  on  the  Di- 
vine Government.  In  a  postscript,  he  adds  that  he 
presumes  these  books  are  "out  of  print,"  but  probably 
they  could  be  found  and  borrowed.  Do  you  ask,  when  ■ 
were  these  books  written  ?  The  first  was  published  in 
1788,  sixty-eight  years  ago  ;  the  second  in  1786,  or  sev- 
enty years  ago  ;  and  the  third  in  1816,  forty  years  ago. 
He  was  right  in  his  conjecture  that  they  were  out  of 
print ;  I  have  sent  in  vain  to  New  York  and  Boston  to 
procure  a  copy  of  the  latest  and  ablest  of  the  three, 
written  by  a  man  who  afterwards  turned  infidel. — Jn 
his  postscript,  Mr.  Ballon  adds  "R.  Streeter's  Conversa- 
tions "  to  the  list ;  but  I  have  examined  that  volume, 
and  do  not  find  the  doctrine  there.  He  also  mentions 
that  he  encloses  me  a  copy  of  his  paper  containing  his 
views,  and  an  article  from  the  Ambassador.  But  the 
paper  has,  for  some  reason,  failed  to  reach  me.  These 
are  all  the  references  which  he  could  give  me.  Now 
in  view  of  these  facts,  when  in  the  course  of  his  letter 
he  expresses  the  opinion  that  "  probably  most  of  the 
preachers  of  the  Universalist  Denomination  hold  the 
doctrine  of  future  discipline,"  I  certainly  think  he  has 
given  a  very  singular  proof  of  his  opinion.  A  very 
odd  denomination  this,  in  which  '■'■most  "  of  the  preach- 
ers hold  a  doctrine,  the  principal  volumes  in  defence  of 
which  were  written  from  forty  to   seventy  years   ago, 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  205 

and  which  are  now  out  of  print  and  out  of  the  market ; 
while  for  years  the  market  has  been,  and  now  is,  flood- 
ed with  works  denying  the  doctrine  which  "  most "  of 
these  preachers  hold, — and  yet  selling,  edition  after 
edition.*  A  very  singular  denomination  !  While 
therefore  I  wovild  speak  respectfully  of  Mr.  Ballou,  I 
must  correct  his  opinion  by  his  facts. 

From  Rev.  T.  S.  King,  also,  I  received  a  highly 
courteous  reply,  dated  Sept.  29,  1856.  He  referred 
me  in  general  for  "  strong  presentations  of  the  argu- 
ment for  Universal  Salvation,"  to  the  collected  works 
of  Rev.  Hosea  Ballou,  and  Rev.  I.  D.  Williamson,  both 
of  them  deniers  of  future  punishment !  f  He  said, 
however,  that  if  I  was  inquiring  for  the  Restoraiionist 
doctrine  distinctly,  he  did  not  at  present  recall  any 
single  work  in  its  defence,  but  that  treatises  bearing 
on  it  might  be  found  in  the  Universalist  Quarterly 
Review.  In  regard  to  that  Review  I  will  speak  pres- 
ently. This  is  all  the  information  Mr.  King  could  give 
me.t 

Mr.  Chapin  never  replied  to  my  inquiry.  But  not 
long  afterwards,  being  in  New  York,  I  went  to  the 
Universalist  Book-store,  kept  at  the  entrance  of  his" 
church,  and  inquired  for  Restorationist  books.  The 
clerk,  in   response,  pulled  out  from  a  miscellaneous 

*  The  seventh  edition  of  Cobb's  Compend  was  published  in  185-1 ;  the 
third  and  stereotype  edition  of  Ballou's  Lecture  Sermons,  in  1854; 
Whittemore's  Plain  Guide  had  sold  in  1851,  to  the  number  of  10,000  or 
12,000;  and  so  on.     These  books  there  is  no  difficulty  in  finding  now. 

t  Mr.  Williamson  at  times  seems  inconsistent  with  himself. 

%  The  infoi-mation  sought  and  obtained  in  these  letters,  it  will  be  per- 
ceived, was  entirely  of  a  general  and  public  nature — the  existence  of 
certain  books  and  treatises.  I  wish  to  speak  of  these  gentlemen,  also, 
with  entire  respect — though  strangers  to  me  personally. 


206  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

pile  of  dingy  pamphlets,  a  treatise  purporting  to  have 
been  written  by  Jeremy  White,  chaplain  to  Oliver 
Cromwell,  and  published  (after  his  death,)  in  the  year 
1707,  one  hundred  and  forty  nine  years  ago  !  "  But 
have  you  nothing  else  ?"  "  Nothing,"  was  the  an- 
swer ;  and  I  thought  I  could  understand  why  I  never 
received  a  reply  from  Mr.  Chapin,  to  my  inquiry. 

Foiled  thus  to  get  on  track  of  Restorationism,  I  fol- 
lowed Mr.  King's  suggestion  and  turned  to  the  Quar- 
terly Review.  I  examined  all  the  numbers  of  that 
periodical  for  the  years  1855  and  1856,  without  find- 
ing article  or  paragraph,  that  distinctly  advocates  pun- 
ishment beyond  the  grave.  The  moral  tone  of  the 
periodical  is  higher  than  that  of  Whittemore  or  Ballon, 
but  during  these  two  years  it  contains  no  Restoration- 
ism.  Without  exploring  further,  I  turned  back  to  the 
Number  for  January,  1853,  which,  I  had  been  told, 
contained  a  noted  article,  by  Mr.  King  advocating  this 
view. .  And  in  an  article  of  fifteen  pages  on  the  theme 
"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?" — I  find  two,  or  most 
three,  sentences  which  somewhat  distinctly  avow  the 
opinion  that  the  consequences  of  men's  actions  may 
follow  them  into  eternity.  Two  of  these  sentences, 
however,  are  encumbered  with  a  "  perhaps."  The 
third  sentence  reads  thus  :  "  Heaven  and  hell  are  dif- 
ferences of  degrees  ;  Eternity  is  the  onward  sweep  and 
development  of  the  life  of  time." 

The  same  number  of  the  Review  contains  an  article 
by  Hosea  Ballou,  2nd,  on  the  "  Condition  of  men  after 
death."  And  it  affords  an  instructive  insight  into  the 
state  of  the  denomination,  to  find  three-fourths  of  his 
article  devoted  to  combatting  three  notions  concerning 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  207 

tlie  future  state  : — first  that  it  is  attended  with  a  loss 
of  personal  existence  or  self-consciousness — a  kind  of 
absorption  or  virtual  annihilation ;  second,  that  it  ig 
accompanied  by  a  loss  of  all  knowledge  of  our  former 
selves — a  virtual  annihilation  and  re-creation  ;  third, 
that  it  is  introduced  by  a  "suspension  of  existence  for 
thousands  of  years."  Having  settled  these  questions  in 
the  negative,  he  at  last  advances  timidly  to  that  '■^eye- 
sore of  a  question^  whether  the  experience  and  charac- 
ter of  the  present  life  will  have  any  effect  on  us  after 
death."  With  great  caution  and  circumspection,  he 
maintains  the  affirmative.  He  even  cites  scripture  to 
shov/  that  good  men  will  feel  the  effect  of  their  self- 
denying  lives  ;  and  two  passages  to  show,  that  "the 
consequences  of  a  disobedient  and  impenitent  life  seem 
also  to  be  traced  into  the  future  state."  One  of  these 
refers  to  the  "spirits  in  prison,"  who,  "it  was  tlie  thought 
of  St.  Peter,"  continued  under  '■^disadvantage^''  from 
the  time  of  Noah  to  the  time  of  Christ.  Mr.  Ballou 
amply  apologizes  for  touching  this  "eye-sore,"  by  in- 
forming us  (on  p.  48,)  that  if  we  keep  "the  profound- 
er  sentiments  unimpaired  in  which  so  much  of  the 
vitality  of  our  [Universalist]  faith  lies,  it  is  compara- 
tively of  little  consequence  how  we  decide  the  ques- 
tion of  temporary  rewards  or  punishments  hereafter  ;" 
and  also  (on  p.  51)  that  it  does  not  seem  to  him  "a 
subject  of  primary  importance."* 

Though  for  the  last  two  years,  at  least,  the  Review 
has  mended  its  manners,  and  scrupulously  refrained 


*■  On  page  7  of  these  lectures,  the  editor  of  the  Quarterly  is  inadver- 
tantly spoken  of,  as  advocating  no  future  punishment.  I  wish  here  to 
make  the  correction. 


208  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

from  disturbing  the  "  eye-sore^'''  we  are  told  by  the 
Rev.  A.  B,  Grosh,  that  "  thus  far  it  has  not  paid  its 
way.''* 

The  truth  is,  whatever  a  few  leading  ministers  may 
desire  for  respectability's  sake,  or  from  conviction,  the 
mass  of  the  denomination  will  not  hear  of  any  future 
punishment.  It  is  not  the  thing  they  pay  the  preacher 
for ;  it  is  not  in  the  contract.  They  want  "  smooth 
things,"  and  smooth  things  they  will  have.  More  than 
one  Restorationist  minister,  it  is  well  known,  has  kept 
his  place  by  keeping  silent  on  his  belief.  The  people 
"  cared  not  what  he  believed,"  if  he  did  not  preach 
future  punishment.  And  should  the  Universali&t  min- 
istry, as  a  body,  go  over  to  Restorationism,  and  openly 
urge  their  doctrine,  they  will  simply  leave  their  places; 
the  denomination  will  never  follow  them.  A  few  Uni- 
tarian pulpits  may  be  opened  before  the  more  educated 
of  them ; — and  the  Univcrsalist  pulpits  will  be  shut  be- 
hind them.  The  mighty  gravitation,  which  in  twelve 
short  years  dragged  the  whole  sect  down  from  the 
plane  of  Restorationism  into  the  abyss  of  Universalism, 
will  hold  it  where  it  fell.  It  contains  elements  that  no 
human  power  can  raise.  The  mass  of  its  congregations 
will  never  hear  of  any  punishment  beyond  the  grave, 
whether  from  an  orthodox  or  a  Univcrsalist  preacher. 
A  significant  reply  was  given  in  this  vicinity,  not  many 
months  ago.  A  member  of  a  Univcrsalist  Congre- 
gation stoutly  maintained  that  the  preacher  whom 
he  had  heard  for  years,  did  not  believe  in  any 
future  punishment.  Being  informed  a  few  days  after, 
that  his  preacher,  under  an  emergency,  had  expressed 


*Un.  Comp.  for  1857,  p.  34. 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  209 

or  seemed  to  express  Restorationist  views — "  Well,  if 
he  believes  in  future  punishment,  /  don't,"  was  the 
brief  and  significant  reply.  And  whatever  may  be  the 
transient  resort  of  emergencies,  doubtless  that  preacher 
will  never  venture  habitually  and  earnestly  to  press 
upon  the  men  who  compose  his  congregation,  the  con- 
sequences of  their  present  lives  in  another  world,  as  a 
divine  teaching,  and  a  theme  of  momentous  practical 
concern, — until  his  mind  is  fully  prepared  for  another 
field  of  labor  than  the  Universalist  pulpit.  The 
demand  for  Ultra-Universalism  will  never  cease  till 
man's  opposition  to  God's  law  ceases ;  and  the  demand 
will  create  a  supply. 

Notwithstanding  the  scarcity  and  timidity  of  Restor- 
ationist views  in  the  Universalist  denomination,  the 
discussion  of  the  subject  will  not  be  complete,  without 
some  examination  of 

II.  The  foundation  of  the  system.  The  Restoration- 
ist scheme,  as  now  held  in  the  Universalist  sect,  main- 
tains that  all  suffering  is  inflicted  for  the  good  of  the 
individual  sinner, — that  it  is  solely  for  discipline  and 
reformation ;  that  this  suffering  will  in  many  cases  ex- 
tend an  unknown  period  into  the  other  world,  but  will 
in  all  cases  bring  the  sinner  to  holiness  and  happiness. 
On  this  particular  scheme — remedial  and  temporary 
punishment  or  suffering  beyond  the  grave, — I  remark, 

1.  The  doctrine  depends  and  must  depend  chiefly  on 
other  grounds  than  Scripture  declarations.  It  is  essen- 
tially extra-scriptural.  It  does  not,  and  it  cannot, 
venture  to  meddle  much  with  those  texts  that  speak 
specifically  of  the  condition  of  men  beyond  the  grave. 
If  they  are  allowed   to  teach   anything,  they  teach 

14 


210  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

a  great  deal  too  mncli  for  Restorationism.  Either 
of  two  courses  might  be  adopted  with  them. — ■ 
They  may  be  taken  in  -their  full  meaning  and  fu- 
ture reference  ;  or  their  future  reference  may  be 
recklessly  denied.  It  is  difficult  to  take  a  half-way 
position,  admitting  the  reference  to  future  punishment, 
and  then  restricting  their  meaning.  The  humble 
Christian  takes  them  as  they  are  ;  the  ultra-Universal- 
ist  makes  a  clean  sweep  of  everything.  He  denies  that 
eternal  life,  or  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  or  the  judg- 
ment, ever  refer  to  another  world.  "  Eternal "  and 
"  forever,"  not  only  do  not  denote  eternity, — they  do 
not  even  enter  eternity,  they  do  not  pass  out  of 
this  world.  He  makes  thorough  work,  by  denying  all 
rewards,  as  well  as  punishments,  hereafter.  For  he 
saw  that  if  the  terrible  tide  of  retribution  were  once 
suffered  to  flow  in  another  world,  it  might  flow  on, — 
and  "  forever  "  might  be  indeed  forever.  He  saw  that 
when  he  began  to  amputate  the  word  of  God,  he  might 
far  better  cut  it  clean  off  at  the  trunk.  Hosea  Ballou 
well  expressed  the  dilemma,  when  he  said, — "  We 
know  of  no  passages  of  Scripture,  which  imply  the  ex- 
istence of  either  sin  or  punishment  in  the  future  state. 
Could  we  find  any  such  testimony,  we  should  then  need 
Scripture  proof  that  such  sin  and  punishment  will  have 
an  end,  in  order  to  be  consistent  Universalists."  In 
truth,  it  was  only  by  boldly  carrying  out  the  principles 
on  which  the  earlier  Restorationists  restrained  the 
Scriptures,  that  the  whole  denomination  sunk  in  a 
dozen  years  into  low  Universalism.  So  U7itenable  is 
that  middle  position,  on  Scripture  grounds,  that  Mr. 
Ballou,  as  we  are  informed  in  bis  Life  by  Whittemore, 


RESTORATTONIST   VIEWS.  211 

was  for  years  in  the  habit  of  cliallenging  any  one  to 
produce  a  passage  that  taught  any  punishment  hereaf- 
ter. He  probably  was  confident  that  he  could  push  the 
Restorationist,  by  his  own  principles,  from  his  position. 
He  must  go  farther,  or  not  so  far.  He  must  deny  that 
any  future  punishment,  or  admit  that  eternal  punish- 
ment is  taught  in  the  Scriptures  ; or  he   must  let 

the  Scriptures  alone.  For  the  Scriptures  do  not  speak 
of  semi-eternal  punishment. 

Modern  Restorationists  seem  to  have  learned  the 
lesson.  They  make  little  appeal  to  the  Bible  in  sup- 
port of  their  peculiar  tenets.  Those  who  constituted 
the  majority  of  the  American  Unitarian  Association  in 
1853,  distinctly  admit,  "  It  is  our  firm  conviction  that 
the  final  restoration  of  all  is  not  revealed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, but  that  the  ultimate  fate  of  the  impenitent 
wicked  is  left  shrouded  in  impenetrable  obscurity,  so 
far  as  the  total  declarations  of  the  sacred  writers  are 
concerned  ;  the  doctrine  of  the  final  restoration  of  the 
wicked  is,  with  them,  "  a  consistent  speculation  of  the 
reason  and  a  strong  belief  of  the  heart."  They  there 
fore  say  that  they  "  cannot  emphasize  it  in  the  fore- 
ground of  their  preaching  as  a  sure  part  of  Christian! 
ty,  but  only  elevate  it  in  the  back-ground  of  their  sys- 
tem, as  a  glorious  hope  which  seems  to  them  a  warran- 
ted inference  from  the  cardinal  principles  of  Christian- 
ity as  well  as  from  the  great  verities  of  moral  science." 

The  theory  of  Rev.  T.  S.  King,  as  exhibited  in  his 
article  on  "  What  must  I  do  to  ba  saved,"  seems  in  its 
essential  features  to  be  nearly  as  independent  of  Scrip- 
ture authority,  as  was  the  system  of  Plato.  He  teach- 
es that  salvation  is  not  rescue  from  an  outward  danger, 


212         LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

nor  the  purchase  of  an  inherita  nee ;  it  is  only  a  spirit- 
ual state.  Our  characters  constitute  our  heaven  or  our 
salvation.  There  is  no  hell  but  evil,  no  heaven  but 
goodness.  Our  redemption  is  internal;  we  get  the 
heaven  we  earn,  only  what  we  earn,  and  just  as  much 
as  we  earn.  And  all  which  the  mercy  of  God  can  do 
in  the  case  is  to  furnish  the  opportunity  and  means  for 
our  own  culture.  The  path  of  vice  is  a  gradual  de- 
scending slope  into  spiritual  degradation  and  death — 
a  slope,  the  inclination  of  which  depends  on  the  human 
will,  and  which  perhaps  keeps  the  same  angle  into 
eternity.  The  path  of  virtue  does  not  open  into  a 
paradise  of  rewards ;  a  man's  holiness  is  his  heaven 
and  his  salvation  here ;  and  the  holiness  he  carries 
with  him  through  the  tomb,  gives  him  rank  and  con- 
stitutes his  salvation  at  the  commencement  of  his  fu- 
ture career.  When  therefore  a  man  seriously  asks 
himself — '  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?'  the  true  an- 
swer will  be,  conquer  your  most  seductive  temptations, 
wrestle  steadily  against  your  principal  weakness,  bring 
up  the  level  of  your  life  by  stopping  the  peculiar  out- 
let through  which  your  "^drtue  leaks  away  ;  fortify  your 
character  on  the  side  of  your  prevailing  poverty  and 
need,*  Such,  in  his  own  language  somewhat  condensed, 
is  the  substance  of  this  brilliant  writer's  noted  article. 
And  though  garnished,  here  and  there  with  a  Scripture 
phrase,  by  way  of  decoration,  can  a  scheme  of  more 
unmitigated  Deism  anywhere  be  found  ?  What  one 
tenet  of  superhuman  origin  has  the  system  ?  Let  us 
accord  all  credit  to  the  system  for  the   strenuousness 


*  UniT.  Quar.  Kev.,  Jan.  1853. 


RESTORATIONIST    VIEWS.  213 

with  which  it  insists  on  virtue ;  but  if  there  he  one 
feature  in  it,  for  which  it  is  more  dependant  on  Scrip- 
ture authority  than  was  the  system  of  Plato,  we  would 
be  glad  to  know  what  it  is.  This,  however,  is  the  most 
attenuated  form  of  Restorationism. 

Hosea  Ballou,  2nd,  though  inclined  more  to  Scrip- 
ture authority,  is  manifestly  wary  of  adducing  texts 
concerning  "  future  discipline."  He  cautiously  cites 
two  or  three  passages  which  "  seem  "  to  him  to  imply 
that  good  men  reap  some  benefit  hereafter  from  their 
labors  and  self-denials  here  ;  and  two  only,  by  which 
"  the  consequences  of  a  disobedient  and  impenitent 
life  seem  to  be  traced  into  the  future  state."  One  of 
these  latter  passages  is  that  concerning  "  the  spirits  in 
prison,"  1  Peter  3  :  18—20  ;  the  other,  2  Cor.  5  :  8—10, 
containing  these  words ;  "  For  we  must  all  appear  be- 
fore the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that  every  one  may 
receive  the  things  done  in  the  body,  according  to  that 
he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad."  He  does  not 
venture  to  quote  a  passage  that  indicates  the  length  of 
future  punishment ;  but  dispatches  the  whole  subject 
thus :  "  Other  texts  might  be  quoted  in  point,  did  it 
seem  to  us  a  subject  of  primary  importance."* 

And  doubtless  the  advocates  of  Restorationism  will 
henceforth  be,  as  they  now  are,  wary  of  citing  Scrip- 
ture texts.  For  when  the  Scriptures  are  once  permit- 
ted to  speak  on  the  subject  of  future  punishment,  it 
is  difficult  to  arrest  their  fearful  tide  of  testimony.  I 
proceed,  then,  to  remark  that 


*  Id.  pp.  48 — 51.  The  reader  will  see  why  no  attempt  is  made  to 
deal  with  the  books  of  "Winchester,  Petitpierre  and  Southwood  Smith. — 
Their  present  authority  would  be  at  once  denied,  as  it  was  by  Whitte- 
more  twenty-five  years  ago.    See  George  on  Un.  p.  380. 


214         LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

2.  The  doctrine  is  involved  in  insuperable  difficulties, 
even  upon  principles  of  reason  and  facts  of  Providence. 

It  asserts  two  things  :  that  all  the  suffering  of  the 
sinner  is  but  a  discipline  for  his  good  ;  and  that  it  will 
surely  result  in  his  perfect  holiness  and  happiness. — 
Were  not  the  Bible  in  the  way,  neither  of  these  points 
could  be  sustained  by  evidence. 

The  statement  that  all  punishment  is  only  for  the 
individual  good  of  the  offender,  is  a  gratuitous  assump- 
tion. And  not  only  so ;  it  is  false  both  to  the  intuitive 
moral  conviction  of  man,  and  the  clear  course  of  God's 
Providential  government.  Our  moral  conviction  that 
sin  deserves  punishment,  has  no  respect  whatever  to 
the  welfare  of  the  offender.  God  has  so  made  us  that 
when  we  see  crime,  or  are  guilty  of  it,  our  conscience 
says  it  deserves  punishment ;  if  it  be  atrocious  crime, 
that  decision  is  vehement  and  indignant — it  stirs  a 
whole  community.  It  looks  not  first  even  to  the  wel- 
fare of  society — it  looks  not  to  the  offender's  reforma- 
tion. It  fixes  its  gaze  on  the  nature  of  the  crime,  the 
demerit  of  the  act,  and  says,  "  it  ought  to  be  punished." 
So  far  is  that  sense  of  ill-desert  from  regarding  the 
offender's  happiness, it  declares  that  his  happiness  ought 
to  be  diminished.  We  may  labor  to  recover  him  from 
sin,  that  he  may  incur  no  more  ill-desert ;  but  the  spon- 
taneous judgment  of  the  moral  sense  is  that,  aside 
from  all  ulterior  considerations,  guilt  deserves  punish- 
ment. The  offender's  good  has  nothing  to  do  with  that 
judgment. 

The  providence  of  God  repudiates  the  principle. 
His  obedient  children  are  indeed  blessed  by  afflictions. 
But  it  is  notoriously  otherwise  with  the  great  mass  of 


RESTORATIONIST    VIEWS.  215 

vile  men,  tliroiigli  this  whole  life.  Except  where  the 
peculiar  reformatory  influences  of  Christ's  gospel  are 
brought  to  bear,  suffering  makes  men  worse.  The 
more  miserable,  the  more  malignant  and  reckless  and 
sinful.  What  countless  mviltitudes  of  cases  could  be 
cited,  in  which  men  and  women  have  sunk  lower  and 
lower  in  ferocious  and  desperate  sin,  even  as  the  pen- 
alty of  their  sins  came  gathering  heavily  upon  them, 
until  life  went  out  in  utter  moral  darkness.  God  does 
send  on  men  a  vast  amount  of  suffering,  which  mani- 
festly does  them  no  good  whatever.  And  how  many 
unprincipled  men  are  there  in  every  community,  now 
held  to  respectability  by  their  outward  connexions  of 
comfort  and  enjoyment,  whom,  were  they  stripped  to- 
day of  wealth  and  health  and  friends  and  position  and 
pleasure,  and  all  outward  respect  and  hope,  you  would 
see  to-morrow  give  themselves  up  to  all  iniquity. 

And  yet,  this  is  a  world  of  grace  and  hope.  Even 
in  this  life  of  hope,  oi partial  hardening,  and  of  better 
influences,  suffering  proves  reformatory,  in  general, 
only  to  less  hardened  souls.  As  men  grow  bold  in  sin, 
suffering  itself  commonly  serves  but  to  develope  new 
and  more  appalling  forms  of  guilt ;  especially  so,  when 
they  are  given  up  to  each  other's  society,  and  respect 
itself  is  gone. 

While,  therefore,  this  doctrine,  in  its  principle,  is 
not  sustained  by  the  native  moral  convictions,  as  a 
theory  of  events,  it  is  contradicted  by  the  facts  of 
this  life. 

But  the  difficulties  are  not  exhausted ;  they  increase 
as  we  look  beyond  this  world.  Where  shall  these  im- 
penitent wicked  find  their  society,  in  order  to  reform  ? 


216         LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

Certainly  not  with  the  children  of  God ;  that  would 
mar  heaven.  It  must  then  be  with  each  other,  A 
strange  reformatory  scene !  The  place  where  all  the 
most  awful  criminals  that  the  world  has  seen  in  all 
ages  of  history,  and  where  only  those  who  are  outcasts 
from  holiness  and  God  are  gathered  together, — God's 
great  state' s-prison,  without  either  chapel  or  chaplain, 
where  no  holy  society  nor  holy  influence  ever  enters, — 
is  assuredly  the  last  place  in  all  God's  universe  to  send 
men  for  repentance, — men  who,  when  less  guilty,  and 
surrounded  with  every  good  influence,  and  every  help 
and  hope,  yet  resisted  the  calls  of  Christ !  The  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  in  deep  guilt  and  desperate 
emergencies,  and  in  the  worst  of  all  society,  casts  no 
shadow  of  light,  nothing  but  deep  gloom,  on  the  pros- 
pects of  lost  men ;  it  gives  all  probability  to  that  fearful 
Scripture,  "  they  gnawed  their  tongues  for  pain,  and 
blasphemed  the  God  of  heaven."  When  all  the  appli- 
ances of  a  world  of  probation,  of  hope,  of  Christian 
society,  of  spiritual  help,  of  comparative  ease  of  mind, 
prove  unavailing, — what,  alas,  is  to  be  expected  from 
the  companionship  of  devils,  from  the  withdrawment 
of  God's  spirit,  from  incessant  remorse,  from  loss  of 
earthly  restraints  and  mutual  respect, — from  despair  ? 
Surely,  until  the  devil  and  his  angels  are  fit  guides  to 
holiness,  and  until  ages  of  cursing  and  blasphemy  tend 
to  train  the  soul  for  angelic  praises,  hell  is  no  place  to 
prepare  for  heaven !  And  Ballou  himself  makes  a  fatal 
admission,  when  he  grants  in  regard  to  the  "  s||irits  in 
prison,"  who  had  been  disobedient  in  the  time  of  Noah, 
that "  the  disadvantage  under  which  they  continued  down 
to  the  time  of  Christy  was  occasioned  by  their  former 


RESTORATIONIST  VIEWS.  217 

obstinacy."*  For  if  not  one  hundred  nor  two  hundred 
years  alone,  but  twenty-three  long  weary  centuries 
could  roll  away  in  suffering  and  sin  as  the  fruit  of  that 
*'  former  obstinacy,"  what  becomes  of  the  boasted  re- 
formatory power  of  suffering  ?  what  of  the  appeal  to 
God's  mercy  ?  And  what  shall  prevent  other  ages  on 
ages  rolling  by,  and  leaving  them  still  in  sin  and  woe  ? 
— ^For  the  Scripture  says  not  one  word  of  their  re- 
pentance, f 

But  the  difficulties  are  not  ended.  If  their  former 
obstinacy  occasioned  a  "  disadvantage "  of  at  least 
twenty-three  hundred  years,  what  of  all  their  subse- 
quent obstinacy  ?  Does  that  go  for  nothing  ?  or  does 
God  visit  that  also  with  "  disadvantages  ?"  And  at 
that  rate  when  will  their  sufferings  have  an  end  ? — 
They  have  been  going  on  in  sin.  God  left  them  to  go 
on.  It  was  therefore  not  unjust  in  him  to  suffer  it, 
nor  is  it  unjust  in  him  to  punish  it.     Indeed,  we  might 


*  Univ.  Quarterly  Rev.  Jan.  1853,  p.  49.  Mr.  Ballon  is  editor  of  the 
Review,  and  President  of  Tufts'  College. 

t  Mr.  Ballon  would  probably  imply  that  "  the  spirits  in  prison  "  were 
liberated  in  the  time  of  Christ.  But  God's  word  says  no  such  thing. 
He  also  holds,  as  I  suppose,  that  Christ  preached  to  them  while  they 
were  in  prison.  But  the  intelligent  reader  of  Scripture  will  observe  that 
the  apostle  says  that  "  by  the  spirit "  Christ  preached  to  them, — that  they 
are  described  as  disobedient  "  in  the  days  of  Noah," — and  that  the  same 
apostle  (in  2  Pet.  2  :  5,)  speaks  of  Noah  as  "a  preacher  of  righteousness." 
Putting  these  things  together,  we  have  this  natural  and  Scriptural  ex- 
planation :  Christ,  by  the  spirit,  and  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Noah,  preached  to  the  spirits  now  in  prison,  while  "  the  long-suffering  of 
God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah."  So  Paul  said,  "  As  though  God  did 
beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to 
God."  To  take  for  granted  that  the  preaching  was  in  their  prison,  much 
more,  that  it  delivered  them  from  prison,  is  a  naked  assumption  without 
evidence. 


218  LECTURES  ON  UNIYERSALISM. 

put  tlie  whole  case  of  endless  punishment  on  this 
simple  ground  :  "  If  God  may  without  injury  permit  a 
creature  to  fall  into  sin  to-day,  and  punish  him  for  it, 
why  may  he  not  do  the  same  to-morrow,  and  so  on 
through  every  day  or  period  of  his  existence  ?"*  And 
the  God  who  could  deliberately  permit  that  sinning 
and  suffering  to  revolve  its  wretched  round  during 
that  vast  period  from  the  days  of  Noah  until  Christ, 
from  hundreds  of  years  before  the  period  of  authentic 
history,  while  empires  on  earth  were  rising  and  falling, 
and  the  earth  itself  was  growing  old, — is  it  at  all  in- 
credible that  the  same  God  should  suffer  it  to  continue 
down  beyond  the  range  of  all  earthly  history,  when 
these  empires  and  the  earth  itself  have  passed  away  ? 
May  he  not  make  good  his  word  ?  and  is  there  not  a 
terrific  probability  that  "  everlasting  punishment " 
may  be  everlasting  ?  When  once  the  beginning  of 
future  punishment  is  conceded,  there  rests  on  those 
who  encourage  the  smner  with  the  hope  of  its  termina- 
tion, a  mighty  responsibility  to  prove  their  assertion  by 
most  indubitable  evidence.  And  when  they  once  ad- 
mit that  punishment  continues  generation  after  gener- 
ation, century  after  century,  and  chiliad  after  chiliad, 
is  not  the  prospect  dark  as  midnight,  that  it  may  go  on 
forever  and  forever  ? 

Indeed,  the  doctrine  of  limited  future  punishment 
for  discipline,  so  far  from  clearing  up  the  mercy  of 
God,  only  embarrasses  the  case.  It  supposes  a  needless 
and  wanton  severity.  If  there  be  actual  wrong  in  sin, 
calling  for  vengeance,  if  the  claims  of  a  violated  law 


*  Edwards  on  the  Salvation  of  All  Men, 


RESTORATIONIST  VIEWS,  219 

of  ineffable  value,  and  the  offended  dignity  of  an  insult- 
ed God,  justly  demand  fearful  and  endless  woes, — we 
can  at  least  comprehend  the  case.  Those  sufferings 
are  a  doom.  They  roll  on  because  they  are  forever  to 
roll  on.  All  is  in  keeping.  It  is  not  mercy  :  it  is  jus- 
tice, holding  on  the  even  tenor  of  its  way.  But  that 
mere  mercy,  with  resources  such  as  could  arrest  Mary 
Magdal*ene  and  Saul  of  Tarsus,  in  a  moment,  should 
yet  deliberately  choose  to  inflict  ages  and  ages  of  suf- 
fering, to  bring  to  repentance  those  whom  it  might  at 
once  have  delivered,  is,  according  to  the  first  princi- 
ples of  Restorationism,  inexplicable  and  inconsistent. 
Those  sufferings  are  inflicted  without  necessity  and 
without  justification,  unless  they  are  inflicted  for  some 
other  end  than  the  sinner's  reformation — they  are  a 
wanton  exercise  of  cruelty.  For,  that  repentance 
might  have  been  secured  at  a  much  less  fearful  rate. 
And  if  the  Restorationist  deny  that  mercy  could  save 
the  sinner,  except  by  the  discipline  of  ages,  let  him  see 
to  it  lest  he  deny  God's  power  to  save  him  at  all. 

There  are  other  formidable  difficulties  attendant  on 
this  scheme.  But  I  omit  them,  that  I  may  proceed  di- 
rectly to  show  that 

3.  The  system  is  totally  overthrov>ai  by  the  word  of 
God. 

The  fundamental  position  that  all  punishment,  or 
rather  suffering,  (for  the  system  repudiates  all  proper 
punishment,)  is  designed  simply  for  the  offender's  good, 
is  not  only  unsupported  by  Scripture  ;  it  is  at  open  war 
with  its  spirit  and  its  speech.  The  Bible  makes  abroad 
distinction  between  the  sufferings  sent  upon  the  believ- 
er, and  those  upon  the  ungodly.     The  one  is  visited 


220         LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

with  "  correction  "  and  "  chastisement  "  mingled  with 
*' pity,"  and  for  his  "  good;"  the  other  is  threatened 
with  "wrath,"  "fury,"  "vengeance,"  "judgment 
without  mercy."  The  one  class  is  called  "blessed" 
under  their  sufferings, — "  Blessed  is  the  man  whom 
thou  chastenest,  0  Lord ;"  the  other  class  is  called 
"accursed"  in  their  pains, — "depart  from  me,  ye 
cursed,  into  everlasting  fire."  The  Scripture  'distinc- 
tion is  as  broad  and  plain  as  words  can  make  it.  But 
this  doctrine  would  confound  the  whole  difference  of 
sentiment  and  language.  According  to  its  teaching, 
"  God's  raining  upon  the  wicked  '  snares,  fire  and  brim- 
stone,' is  synonymous  with  sending  upon  them  sancti- 
fying mercies !  The  threatenings  against  the  ungodly, 
of  '  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish,' 
refers  to  the  distribution  of  various  sorts  of  blessings  ! 
The  Scripture  expression,  'fierce  wrath  of  God,' 
must  mean  simply,  fierce  goodness  of  God.  And 
the  '  fiery  indignation  which  shall  devour  the  ad- 
versaries,' is  the  same  as  fiery  mercy  which  shall  save 
the  adversaries  !"  Away  with  such  abuse  of  speech  ! 
All  the  utterances  of  God's  word  toward  the  pertina- 
ciously wicked,  are  in  conflict  with  the  first  principles 
of  the  system.  It  finds  no  support  in  the  Bible  except 
by  misappropriating  God's  promises  to  his  saints. 

That  this  punishment  beyond  the  grave  shall  result 
in  the  purification  of  the  wicked,  any  more  than  it  has 
effected  that  of  the  devil  and  his  angels,  with  whom 
their  lot  is  cast ;  or  that  their  punishment  shall  ever 
have  an  end ; — of  this,  not  a  distinct  intimation  is 
brought  or  attempted,  from  the  Bible.  The  most  that 
is  done  is  to  appeal  to  God's  attribvites,  and  cite  a  few 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  221 

passages  to  show  in  general  that  all  men  will  be  saved ; 
and  both  of  these  attempts  we  have  seen  to  be  falla- 
cious. Not  a  text  can  be  cited,  that  intimates  either 
the  purifying  power  or  the  termination  of  that  admit- 
ted suffering.  And  the  Restorationist  is  in  that  dilem- 
ma, on  which  Ballou  the  elder  gave  them  warning,  of 
conceding  the  fact  of  future  punishment  from  the  Bible, 
and  then  needing  scripture  proof  of  its  termination  ; — 
but,  alas,  without  finding  that  scripture  proof. 

The  Bible  gives  no  hint  of  the  existence  oi probation 
beyond  the  present  life  ;  but  much  the  contrary.  When 
we  appear  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  we  are 
to  "  receive  the  things  done  in  the  body."  Into  this 
world,  Christ  came  with  the  offers  of  life.  Here  men 
are  called  on  to  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
they  shall  be  saved.  It  is  here  that  by  "  patient  contin- 
uance in  well-doing,"  men  are  to  gain  "  eternal  life  ; " 
and  they  who  are  "  faithful  unto  death"  shall  receive 
"a  crown  of  life  ;"  here  the  wicked  "treasure  up  wrath 
against  the  day  of  wrath  and  revelation  of  the  right- 
eous judgment  of  God.' '  The  preaching  of  the  gos- 
pel on  earth,  becomes  "  a  savor  of  life  unto  life,"  and 
"a  savor  of  death  unto  death."  After  death  is  the 
judgment.  "  Fear  him,  who  after  he  hath  killed,  hath 
power  to  cast  into  hell;  yea, I  say  unto  you,  fear  him." 
In  this  life,  in  this  life  only,  does  God's  word  locate 
the  probationary  state  of  man. 

The  Bible  neither  proposes  nor  intimates  any  means 
of  deliverance  from  the  doom  of  the  lost.  By  contin- 
ual implication  and  by  open  declaration,  it  denies  all 
remedy.  "  How  shall  we  escape,"  is  the  swelling  bur- 
den of  its  admonitions,  "  how  shall  we   escape,  if  we 


222  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERS  ALISM. 

neglect  so  great  salvation  ?  "  "  What  shall  it  profit  a 
man,  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own 
soul?"  "Lord,  are  there  few  that  be  saved ? "  said 
one  to  the  great  Redeemer.  "  Strive  to  enter  in  at 
the  strait  gate,"  was  his  solemn  reply,  '-for  many,  I  say 
unto  you,  shall  seek  to  enter  in  and  shall  not  be  able." 
And  he  warned  him  of  the  time  "when  once  the  master  of 
the  house  hath  risen  up  and  shut  to  the  door,"  and  all 
knocking  shall  be  vain.  "  Let  us  therefore  fear,'* 
echoes  the  apostle,  "lest  a  promise  being  left  us  of 
entering  into  his  rest,  any  of  you  should  seem  to  come 
short  of  it.  Let  us  therefore  labor  to  enter  in  to  that 
rest,  lest  any  man  fall  after  the  same  example  of  unbe- 
lief." He  tells  us  of  those  to  whom  "  there  remaineth 
no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,  but  a  certain  fearful  looking 
for  of  judgment  and  fiery  indignation  which  shall 
devour  the  adversaries,"  And  he  adds,  "  it  is  a  fearful 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God." 

Indeed,  a  Divine  and  awful  sense  of  the  irretrieva 
bleness  of  human  destruction  but  for  the  death  of  Christ, 
and  of  the  sinner's  remediless  ruin,  unless  he  in  this  life  by 
faith  lay  hold  on  Christ,  seems  to  flow  like  a  rushing 
stream  through  the  word  of  God, — and  to  enfold  the 
whole  plan  of  redemption  like  a  vast  atmosphere  of 
gloom  into  which  light  breaks  only  from  the  cross.  It 
gives  meaning  to  Clirist's  mission,  potency  to  God's 
warnings  and  urgency  to  the  gospel  invitations.  It  can 
no  more  be  dissipated  by  dealing  with  individual  pas- 
sages, than  the  gloom  of  midnight  can  be  scattered 
from  the  whole  heavens  by  the  glimmer  of  farthing 
candles.  It  heaves  the  heart  of  the  sacred  writer ; 
and  hg  exclaims,  "  knowing  therefore  the  terror  of  the 


RESTORAO^IONIST  VIEWS.  223 

Lord,  we  persuade  men."  It  is  that  remediless  ruiiij 
which  gives  priceless  value  to  the  gospel,  and  depth  of 
meaning  to  "  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ." 

But  the  Bible  is  not  only  burdened  in  general  with 
the  awful  sense  of  human  danger ;  it  speaks  in  articu- 
late terms  of  the  hopeless  destruction  of  the  sinner. 
And  it  should  not  be  forgotten,  that  when  Christ  and 
his  apostles  spoke  to  the  Jews  of  any  punishment  here- 
after, it   would  not  have  been  necessary  for  them  to 
declare  its  eternity.    That  was  conceded  by  their  hear- 
ers ;  no  other  idea  could  enter  their  minds.    The  Phar- 
isees  held   to   endless  punishment ;  even  Whittemore 
affirms  they  "  are  well  known  to  have  believed  in  it.* 
For  Christ  and  his  apostles,  therefore,  to  assert  future 
punishment,  though  they  had  said  nothing  of  its  dura- 
tion,  would  have  been  equivalent  to  declaring  its  eter- 
nity.    It  could  have  been  understood  in  no  other  way. 
But   they  did   not  leave  the  matter  so.     In  a  great 
variety  of  ways  they   taught  that  punishment  would 
never  end.     They  taught  so  plainly  as  not  only  to  make 
that  impression  on  the  minds  of  Christians,  for  the  past 
1800   years ;  the   infidel   also   finds   it  plainly   there. 
"  All  skeptics,"  says   Asher   Moore,   the   Universalist, 
"  suppose  the  Bible  to   teach   the   doctrine   of  endless 
misery."     How  can  they  help  supposing  so  ?     For  the 
Scriptures  speak  in  many  and   varied   forms.     They 
describe  it  by  the  various  positive  terms,  eternal,  ever- 
lasting, forever,  forever  and  ever  ;  the  very   same  and 
only  terms  that  denote  the  duration  of  heavenly  bless- 
edness— sometimes  in  the   same  connection   and  the 


*  Plain  Guide,  p,  43, 


224  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

same  sentence  ;  the  very  terms  employed,  and  the 
strongest  that  the  Greek  language  furnishes,  to  describe 
the  extent  of  God's  existence.  They  declare  it  in  neg- 
ative forms  that  deny  all  termination  :  "  He  will  burn 
the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire  ;" — "  cast  into  hell 
where  the  worm  dieth  not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched  ;" 
"  it  shall  not  be  forgiven  unto  men  neither  in  this  world 
nor  in  the  world  to  come."  They  state  it  both  negative- 
ly and  positively  in  the  same  sentence ;  "  hath  never 
forgiveness,  but  is  in  danger  of  eternal  damnation ;" — 
"  shall  not  see  life,  but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on 
him  ;"  "  there  remaineth  no  more  sacrifice  for  sins,  but 
a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment  and  fiery  in- 
dignation, which  shall  devour  the  adversaries."  They 
describe  it  as  a  final  exclusion  from  heaven :  "  The  un- 
righteous shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God ;" 
"  whither  I  go,  ye  cannot  come."  They  describe  it  as 
an  irreversible  doom :  "  the  door  is  shut,"  and  they 
that  knock  without  hear  the  voice,  "  I  know  you 
not  ; "  "  whose  end  is  destruction."  It  is  the  ces- 
sation of  all  enjoyment,  with  an  impassable  barrier 
between  the  sinner  and  heaven  :  "  Son,  remember  that 
thou  in  thy  life-time  receivedst  thy  good  things  and 
likewise  Lazarus  evil  things ;  but  now  he  is  comforted 
and  thou  art  tormented.  And  besides  between  you 
and  us  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed  ....  neither  can  they 
pass  to  us  that  would  come  from  thence."  It  is  a  doom 
so  dreadful,  as  to  make  existence  itself  a  curse :  "it  had 
been  good  for  that  man  if  he  had  not  been  born  ;" — 
and  yet,  had  a  final  eternity  of  bliss  been  before  him, 
even  though  he  should  first  suffer  for  millions  of 
years,  it  had  been  an  infinite  benefit  to  be  born. 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  225 

The  Bible  declares  these  things,  not  alone  by  passing 
and  incidental  reference,  but  also  of  set  design  and 
special  aim.  In  the  solemn  passage  from  which  my 
text  is  taken,  the  single  theme  of  Christ  was  to  set 
forth  the  final  retribution ;  and  here  he  declares  the 
reward  of  the  righteous  and  the  doom  of  the  wicked  to 
be  alike  eternal.  A  similar  directness  of  aim  and  an 
appalling  force  of  reiteration,  is  found  in  Mark  9 :  43. 
"  If  thy  hand  oifend  [ensnare]  thee,  cut  it  off:  it  is  bet- 
ter for  thee  to  enter  into  life  maimed,  than,  having  two 
hands,  to  go  into  hell,  into  the  fire  that  never  shall  be 
quenched ;  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the  fire  is 
not  quenched.  And  if  thy  foot  offend  thee,  cut  it  off;  it 
is  better  for  thee  to  enter  halt  into  life,  than,  having 
two  feet,  to  be  cast  into  hell,  into  the  fire  that  never 
shall  be  quenched;  where  the  worm  dieth  not  and 
the  fire  is  not  quenched.  And  if  thine  eye  offend 
thee,  pluck  it  out :  it  is  better  for  thee  to  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God  with  one  eye,  than,  having  two 
eyes,  to  be  cast  into  hell-fire  ;  where  their  worm  dietli 
not  and  the  fire  is  not  quenched."  Here  the  eternity 
of  future  punishment  is  set  forth  m  terms  that  admit 
no  evasion.  "  Our  Lord's  argument  here  turns  upon 
the  infinite  disparity  between  the  temporal  and  eternal 
pains.  Duration  is  the  only  point  to  be  illustrated. 
And  fuiite  is  here  set  in  contrast  with  infinite  dui'a- 
tion.  And  this  infinite  duration  is  expressed  by  a  vari- 
ety of  epithets,  which  are,  of  all  others,  the  most 
plain,  determinate  and  unexceptionable."*  It  dieth 
not,  it  is  not  quenched,  it  is  unquenchable,  and   (as 


*  Emerson's  Works. 
15 


226  LECTURES  ON  UNIVERSALISM. 

given  in  Matthew)  it  is  "  everlasting."  Ponder  now 
the  speaker's  point, — this  accumulation  of  terms,  and 
the  emphasis  of  his  threefold  repetition ;  consider  the 
mode  in  which  his  hearers  from  their  previous  belief 
were  sure  to  understand  him : — and  if  our  Lord  did 
not  mean  to  be  understood  to  affirm  the  absolute  eter- 
nity of  future  punishment,  in  the  name  of  common 
sense  and  common  honesty,  let  me  ask,  what  did  he 
mean? 

Here  I  suspend  the  argument  from  Scripture,  not 
because  it  is  exhausted,  but  because  this  is  enough. — 
One  objection,  I  wish,  in  closing,  to  meet.  It  has  been 
said  that  eternal  punishment  is  unnecessary.  To  this 
it  has  been  often  and  well  replied,  that  is  for  God  to 
say,  and  not  for  us.  We  are  no  judges.  The  necessi- 
ties of  a  government  reaching  through  immensity  and 
eternity,  is  beyond  our  scope.  God's  own  rights  and 
dignity,  the  actual  enormity  of  sin,  the  exigencies  of 
the  universe,  may  render  it  alike  incompatible  with 
justice  and  benevolence  in  the  Great  Magistrate  of 
such  an  empire,  ever  to  restore  his  prisoners.  The 
quiet  of  the  universe,  the  full  exhibition  of  his  own 
character  and  the  power  of  his  government,  the  right 
and  adequate  impression  on  all  his  creatures,  the  eter- 
nal holiness  of  the  holy,  may  be  concerned.  Is  God 
so  uncompromisingly  holy,  and  does  he  hate  sin  with 
such  a  hatred,  as  he  declares  ?  Is  revolt  against  his 
authority,  guilt  of  damning  dye  ?  Yea,  is  he  a  God  of 
truth,  and  will  he  fulfill  the  threats  he  has  made  ? — 
"  Can  he  reign  over  fallen  creatures  gloriously  to  him- 
self?" Or  can  the  powers  of  darkness  break  up  the 
essential  perfection  of  his  eternal  schemes  ? — These  and 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  22T 

others  are  momentous  questions,  for  which  the  answers 
may  be  found  only  in  the  irreversible,  endless  infliction 
of  tlie  penalty  of  his  law. 

But  I  go  further.  Does  not  the  very  necessity  for 
such  an  argument  as  this — does  not  the  utter  defiance 
of  the  Universalist  position,  show  positive  necessity  for 
the  never-ending  display  of  God's  chastising  power? 
The  very  rights  of  his  throne  are  contested,  and  prob- 
ably will  be  contested  to  all  eternity — his  right  to  ful- 
fill his  word  and  execute  the  penalty  of  the  law.  Here 
are  multitudes  of  men  on  earth,  denying  his  right  to 
govern  his  universe  as  he  has  declared  he  will  govern 
it ;  some  of  them  contending  desperately  and  even 
ferociously  against  the  penalty  which  Christ  asserted, 
declaring  it  "  the  utmost  malignity,"*  "  infinite  malig- 
nity,"! "  the  most  horrid  cruelty,"^  "  unmingled  and 
unmitigated  cruelty,  red  as  blood  and  black  as  hell, 
without  one  redeeming  ray  of  pity,  mercy,  or  justice  ;"^ 
and  even  plainly  intimating  that  the  Being  who  could 
fulfill  it,  must  be  a  Ijloody  Nerc,||  a  tyrant,  a  mon- 
ster,^ and  an  arch-fiend.**  They  live,  they  die,  they 
enter  eternity,  in  this  state  of  relentless  hostility  to  the 
rights  and  claims  and  declarations  of  God.  Doubtless 
Satan  and  his  angels,  too,  deny  that  right,  and  stand 
in  eternal  collision  with  this  fundamental  principle  of 
God's  government.  Such  being  the  case,  may  it  not 
be  the  only  alternative  left  even  to  God  himself,  eter- 
nally to  assert  that  right  by  eternally  stretching  forth 
his  hand  to  chasten  that   desperate   rebellion, — that 


*  Whittemore.  t  Cobb,  t  Thomas.  §  Williamson's  Exposition,  p. 
102.  II  lb.  End.  Pun.  Ex.  p.  57.  1[  Univ.  Quar.  Rev.,  Jan.  1855,  p.  83. 
**  lb.,  Oct.  1856,  p.  333. 


228  LECTURES  ON  UNI  VERBALISM. 

relentless  war  upon  the  authority  of  his  throne !     It  is 
a  sad  and  awful  thought. 

My  task  is  ended.  I  have  endeavored  succinctly  to 
set  forth  the  baselessness  of  Universalism.  In  so  do- 
ing, it  has  been  my  duty  to  exhibit  the  doom  that 
awaits  every  soul  not  found  in  Christ.  It  is  not  my 
doctrine.  J  did  not  make  it.  I  am  not  responsible 
for  it.  I  cannot  unmake  if  I  would.  The  doctrine  of 
eternal  punishment  is  God's  doctrine :  He  takes  the 
responsibility  now — he  will  take  the  responsibility  in 
the  day  of  judgment.  Men  may  reject  it ;  but  it  is  in 
God's  word.  And  since  it  is  there,  it  is  neither  mercy 
nor  wisdom  to  hide  the  truth.  It  is  not  your  doctrine. 
You  cannot  destroy  it  if  you  would.  Your  resistance 
and  denial  can  make  no  difference  with  the  fact, — but 
it  may  make  an  eternal  and  fatal  difference  in  your 
prospects. 

But  oh !  why  should  you  resist  it  ?  It  cannot  harm 
you,  if  your  heart  rests  on  Christ  Jesus  for  salvation; 
for  neither  life  nor  death,  nor  things  present  nor  things 
to  come,  shall  then  be  able  to  separate  you  from  the 
love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  You  need  not 
forever  perish.  Oh !  why  should  you  spend  your 
strength  in  foolish  and  fatal  struggles  against  the  irre- 
sisti])le  ordinance  of  God,  instead  of  fleeing  with  all 
your  might  to  the  arms  of  Christ  the  Savior  ?  Should 
you  take  up  your  final  abode  in  that  home  of  eternal 
sorrows,  it  will  not  be  because  the  door  of  heaven  was 
shut  against  you,  nor  because  you  were  not  warned  to 
flee  from  the  wrath  to  come,  nor  because  long  years 
were  not  given  you  here,  in  which  to  make  your  peace 


RESTORATIONIST   VIEWS.  229 

with  God.  .  Lo,  the  voice  comes  from  heaven,  "  Live, 
for  I  have  found  a  ransom — turn  ye,  turn  ye,  for  why 
will  ye  die."  And  while  I  utter  the  message  of  woe 
from  God,  the  voice  of  Christ  himself  seems  to  break 
on  my  ear, — "  For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave  his  only  begotten  Son  that  whosoever  believeth 
oh  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 
"  And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say.  Come.  And  let 
him  that  heareth  say.  Come.  And  let  him  that  is 
athirst  come ;  and  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 
water  of  life  freely."  Soon  you  will  be  brought  face  to 
face  with  the  tremendous  issues  of  eternity.  Oh ! 
spend  not  your  fleeting  strength  in  wrangling  against 
the  holy  bar  of  God,  but  in  hastening  to  the  Cross 
of  Christ ! 


THE    END. 


ERRATA. 

1 .    ..  The  Universalist  quai 
.-  line  17,  strike  out  the  word.,     The  b 

°         terly  ^^■,     ^^,  the  .m'ds  in  parenthesis  after 
On  page  13,  line  28,  strike  out  tu 

"Banner.'  ,.„.ofum'' to  destination. 

.,      a     229.  last  line  but  one,  ciian^L 


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